That would be libel (written mistruth), not slander (spoken mistruth). Note, that the judge found the women guilty because of the letter of the law; she cannot possilby claim that all the restaurant's food is "too salty" base on one serving of just one dish. If she had only stated that her particular bowl of food, as prepared on that day and served to her, was too salty; there would be no issue. The judgment monetary cost is about $7000 USD, including 30 days jail. However, note too, that the court did not disagree with her assessment that the place had roaches, and "...that the owner was a “bully” because he let customers park their cars haphazardly, leading to traffic jams." Health inspection after the fact isn't any indication that the place wasn't a problem beforehand. He simply cleaned up after her piece came out. So in this case, you have a bully who used the letter of the law to narrowly win a case. Her biggest mistake is apologizing. She should use her blogging popularity and have people boycott and picket the restaurant unless the owner apologizes to her, nulls the monetary verdict, and pays her court expenses. The courts are powerful, but the internet can be as well. In the public light of net scrutiny, an asshole will always be shown to be an asshole, and he will eventually lose. She should use this even to teach him a lesson and drive him out of business.
lucky i take a photo of what i eat... LOL last time i got a reply from one of the places apologising for the bad experience and offered me to go back and try again (at their expense) i haven't taken up the offer, given that i don't know what they're gonna do to the food before it gets to me...
^ yeah .. I have offers to try again for free from restaurant owners after horrible experiences. Of course, I didn't take their offers cuz I worried that they might do something to the food. Anyway, back to the OP, I believe the court is rather harsh on this case .. compensation should have been enough .. jailed time wasn't necessary .. waste of tax dollar. We know that the internet is powerful these days so people have to be more responsible with what they write sometimes. Keep in mind that an innocent comment can sometimes put a place out of business. I am not siding with either of them .. both are at fault to me.
that is indeed true.... no freedom to say what you please..... but i suppose she was a bit in the wrong as was the owner. Her sentence was kind of harsh though.
This whole thing was a waste of tax payers money. I think she just made a mistake in her usage of words, the food she ordered that day was too salty but I guess she gave the viewers the thought that all the foods at this place is salty, cockroaches are everywhere, here today, gone tomorrow. It was a harsh judgment over something like this.
Negative words on blog will take her to jail..Positive words will gain her a free meal? I like to blog on food everyday if this do...
