SAN FRANCISCO — A website operator is suing ZCS Inc., Hair Solutions Inc., Atlantic Coast Media LLC, Reputation Defender et al., several companies, citing alleged abuse of process, and civil conspiracy.
Consumer Opinion LLC filed a complaint on Oct. 21, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the defendants alleging that they breached their duties of good faith and fair dealing.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that Consumer Opinion LLC operates a website, pissedconsumer.com, a venue for consumer review where individuals can share information about their experiences with businesses providing goods and services, thereby allowing consumers to make better choices. However, some of the Defendant-Businesses conspired with Defendant-RMC (reputation management companies), to hide the unflattering statements from the public by having popular search engines such as Google to de-index the webpages containing the comments, thereby causing plaintiff to suffer injury to its business and reputation.
The plaintiff holds ZCS Inc., Hair Solutions Inc., Atlantic Coast Media LLC, Reputation Defender et al. responsible because the defendants allegedly obtained a court order under false pretenses to persuade popular search engines to de-index every statement about its product.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks damages based on defendants’ conduct, interest, attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation, injunctive relief and other relief to which it may be entitled. They are represented by Marc J. Randazza, D. Gill Sperlein and Alex J. Shepard of Randazza Legal Group PLLC in Las Vegas.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-06105