Here are the appalling facts in a nutshell (the full story is here)…
A woman buys a product on eBay from “Med Express” of Medina, Ohio. The product arrives postage due. She posts negative feedback about Med Express because of the postage due. Med Express sues her for defamation. When contacted about the lawsuit, Med Express explicitly concedes that the suit has no legal merit and their goal is to bully the customer into taking down the negative feedback, because Ohio has no anti-SLAPP statute and it’ll be too expensive for her to fight the lawsuit in Ohio.
If you are a lawyer with bar privileges in Medina, Ohio, or you know someone who is a lawyer with bar privileges in Medina, Ohio, and you or the person you know is willing to donate some pro bono time to give Med Express the legal ass-kicking they so roundly deserve, please get in touch with Ken White at Popehat (his take on this story is here).
I hope all of you will accept this as an open letter of apology from Med Express.
Please understand that our customer was never the target of this lawsuit. We had instructed our attorneys to ask for only $1.00 in damages. Her feedback was also never an issue. We fully support her right and all of our customers right to leave any feedback they desire – true or otherwise!
The issue involved “Detailed Seller Ratings” or DSR’s. The low ratings caused us to lose our “Top Rated Seller Plus” standings. Based on our current volume, this was a potential fee increase of tens of thousands of dollars over the course of a year.
The only way DSR’s are removed is by court order, and I was told that such court orders were not uncommon. I do deeply regret the wording of the lawsuit. I had not read it and only learned of the wording on the blogs. I too would have been outraged and for that I also sincerely apologize. It is the addendum attached ordering Ebay to remove the DSR’s that was our only goal.
The only person to blame here is me. You have spoken and I have listened. A terrible wrong needs to be righted. I am instructing our attorneys to drop the lawsuit. I want to assure everyone that you may feel free to leave any feedback on our company without fear of reprisal. I have learned my lesson.
Richard Radey
President
Med Express Inc.
Really? How about in all the other lawsuits you’ve filed against customers for giving you neutral or negative feedback? Were the customers “never the target of” of those lawsuits either?
If someone is not the target of a lawsuit, then don’t sue them.
… which is why you have exhibited a pattern of suing customers who leave you negative feedback. Right, that sure makes a lot of sense.
The way you retain your “Top Rated Seller Plus” standing is by providing good enough service to earn high ratings from your customers, not by suing customers who give you low ratings.
Sorry, Mr. Radey, not impressed.
You may want to make clear that “Med Express” of Medina, Ohio is “med_express_sales” on eBay. It’s not clear from the blog post itself.