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Lawyer Sues 20-Year-Old Student Who Gave a Bad Yelp Review, Loses Badly (arstechnica.com)
20-year-old Lan Cai was in a car crash this summer, after she was plowed into by a drunk driver and broke two bones in her lower back. She didn't know how to navigate her car insurance and prove damages, so she reached out for legal help. Things didn't go as one would have liked, initially, as ArsTechnica documents:The help she got, Cai said, was less than satisfactory. Lawyers from the Tuan A. Khuu law firm ignored her contacts, and at one point they came into her bedroom while Cai was sleeping in her underwear. "Seriously, it's super unprofessional!" she wrote on Facebook. (The firm maintains it was invited in by Cai's mother.) She also took to Yelp to warn others about her bad experience. The posts led to a threatening e-mail from Tuan Khuu attorney Keith Nguyen. Nguyen and his associates went ahead and filed that lawsuit, demanding the young woman pay up between $100,000 and $200,000 -- more than 100 times what she had in her bank account. Nguyen said he didn't feel bad at all about suing Cai. Cai didn't remove her review, though. Instead she fought back against the Khuu firm, all thanks to attorney Michael Fleming, who took her case pro bono. Fleming filed a motion arguing that, first and foremost, Cai's social media complaints were true. Second, she couldn't do much to damage the reputation of a firm that already had multiple poor reviews. He argued the lawsuit was a clear SLAPP (strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). Ultimately, the judge agreed with Fleming, ordering the Khuu firm to pay $26,831.55 in attorneys' fees.
When the first is also the best post.
Much as I agree with the outcome, what attorney's fees if the attorney was doing pro bono? Was he instead on contingency?
I wonder if they guy linking to the Ars report will get sued now...
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Drama, Vietnamese style. Who cares?
Probably graduates from some San Francisco Law "School" and Noodle Shop. Pass the Bar with the minimum requisite score and set up an ambulance chasing practice that specializes in targeting minorities.
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The original article that Ars sourced was posted July 27, 2016.
Well done, Ars, well done.
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estou atrás de mulher só pra ver se essa merda pára de me encher, não me interessa quem.
Lower back injuries are the worst.
Pics of walking into the bedroom or it didn't happen!
I wonder what outcome the firm was expecting from this lawsuit? In what way does winning 200k imaginary dollars outweigh the reputation of them suing their own clients for sharing their experiences? Am I missing something?
toss em all into a piranha tank.
Judge: "The fact that you're suing her proves her point. Judgment for the defendant. And pay her lawyer's for the hassle."
They thought the Yelp review was bad. The fact that they lost their own case and had to pay the other lawyer's fees is a MUCH worse review.
Tuan A. Khuu law firm sues the presiding judge for a bad review in 3... 2... 1...
"attorney Michael Fleming, who took her case pro bono."
"Ultimately, the judge agreed with Fleming, ordering the Khuu firm to pay $26,831.55 in attorneys' fees."
Wow, I need to start doing some Pro Bono work $$$!
individual clients. Corporate clients or don't bother is my motto. No corporation will leave you negative reviews, file anti-SLAPP suits against you or go to the media. Individuals on the other hand....
Merits of the case aside the law firm lost the millisecond they filed this case in CA. It was a legit dumb move given who sits on the bench in this state. Liberal judges will basically never side with a law firm against a lay person no matter the issue least of all in a libel suit since they don't want to hear these cases PERIOD. Jesus Christ could have testified the kid was lying and it wouldn't have mattered. This is the most pro "consumer" state in the entire country. This is state where it takes 6 years to foreclose on a non-paying borrower. Why they thought suing a teenager would work is beyond me. Merit or no-merit under the facts and the law don't matter when you have "optics" and "public policy" considerations. But that's almost certainly why these lawyers rep car accident vics and not "real clients." They don't know any better....
As you might guess -- I'm a lawyer.
Let's all go on Yelp and call these motherfuckers out with bad reviews!
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Disbarment doesn't happen nearly often enough.
That doesn't sound like loses badly. That just sounds like a relatively normal loss. A normal loss should probably include attorney fees. I'm glad the student won and didn't end up having to pay money but the student was probably still out a ton of time and hassle and it didn't sound like there was any compensation to the student or punishment to the firm besides having to pay the other side's court cost. Again, glad the student fought it but the only thing the student got to show for it was to be able to keep their review online. The student should be rewarded somehow for fighting a frivolous lawsuit instead of taking the easy route and just deleting the review.
.. about the Khuu Klan.
Pro-bono pays better than i thought :O
Most lawyers are pretty douchy in my experiences so can't say I am surprised, but this guy does now get some nice karma via Streisand Effect, even got a site dedicated to his name: http://keithnguyen.org/
They were paid for their initial service.
Then then sued her for between $100k and $200k.
Her new lawyer did it pro bono.
End result, their firm had to pay $26.8k in attorneys' fees.
How the hell is that "Loses Badly"?!?!? IMO, that's nowhere near enough.
She's out with a broken back and medical fees that (I'm assuming) she didn't get back.
Her lawyer lost out on what he should have been able to get.
They're all out a ton of time and effort.
Their lawyers probably still got a paycheck, and their firm just had to cover the bill for the time they wasted in the court.
Well if there was any doubt left that this law firm sucked, this lawsuit will remove the doubt. Please sue me next.
FML, I'd like to "work for free" and only get paid $27k for a few hours/days work.
Not really Pro Bono is it.
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She may have to hire a collection agent to get her money. Lawyers are always good at collecting money, but pretty unethical about paying it.
Southeast Asians make shitty lawyers. They are better suited to running rice farms and POW camps.
She should have counter-sued and sought punitive damages. It would have been nice to see these ass-clowns bankrupted, rather than getting off with just having to reimburse her for fees.
Cheers to the lawyer who took up her case pro bono. The bar needs more members like him.
She was in a collision ; OK, fine.
She submits a claim for the damage to the vehicle and herself. Fine.
The insurance company will ask for supporting documentation - police crime reference (since a drunk driver was mentioned, which is a crime in most countries I've head of ; the crash and injury may or may not be a separate crime ; also "dangerous driving", "driving without insurance", "taking and driving away" ; whatever else in the case) ; possibly supervising physician's contact details (or whatever is equivalent in America) for the medical details ; possibly damage reports from the repairing garage (who wouldn't have done diddly-squat to the vehicle without communicating with the insurance company in writing).
I've never had to deal with an injury collision, but several other car crunches have come and gone. It's not exactly difficult. Where does the lawyer come into it?
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