A BC business owner claimed he was hit with false one-star reviews and decided to take legal action against Google, but, unfortunately, he picked the wrong one.
Bill Summers requested an order for the Google Canada Corporation to remove negative reviews and pay $5,000 for “damages to dignity.”
In response, the Google Canada Corporation said that Google Search, Google Maps, and Google My Business are administered by Google LLC, which has no business or employees in Canada.
“In other words, the respondent says the application has named the wrong company,” the tribunal stated.
According to the tribunal’s decision, which was posted online, the applicant said that the numbered company that does business as WE GRILL suffered harm from false reviews.
This was the first problem in Summer’s case, as the tribunal stated that a corporation is a separate legal entity from its principals.
“That means that a corporation’s principal does not have standing (meaning ‘legal right’) to bring a claim in their own name to recover damages suffered by the corporation,” the tribunal added.
This was reason enough to dismiss the claims brought forward against Google Canada Corporation. The tribunal pointed out some other issues in the case.
The primary issue was that Google Canada Corporation was not behind the online services where the “allegedly false reviews” were posted.
“The applicant does not dispute that Google LLC operates the relevant platforms on which the reviews are posted. However, the applicant argues that Google LLC is the respondent’s parent company, and so Google LLC cannot be completely disconnected from its Canadian operations,” the tribunal’s decision says.
Unfortunately for Summers, he offered no evidence to support those claims.
“Overall, I am satisfied that Google Canada Corporation is a separate company from Google LLC and that Google Canada Corporation is not the correct respondent to this dispute.”
The tribunal dismissed all claims from the BC business owner against Google.
Businesses do have the ability to report “policy-violating” reviews on their business profile, but the reports might not always be successful. After a report is made, Google investigates and decides whether or not to remove it.