Local Government Reporter covering Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach and unincorporated Horry County.
The Quay Seafood Grille in Murrells Inlet is suing a recent customer for libel, alleging that customer defamed the restaurant when she posted several negative reviews of the company online.
MURRELLS INLET — A Grand Strand seafood restaurant is taking one of its recent customers to court after the diner posted some unflattering comments about the establishment on social media.
The Quay Seafood Grille in Murrells Inlet filed a libel lawsuit against Horry County resident Diane Hibbs, alleging she defamed the restaurant in negative reviews with the intention of deterring potential customers.
“I’m very disappointed that something like this could happen in a state like this,” Hibbs said. “I mean, I thought we had free speech. I think he’s a big bully, and I wonder, is business that bad? If you look at my reviews, I am somebody that gives mostly five-star reviews.”
The complaint states that Hibbs accused her waiter of stealing her credit card information, a claim the company called “categorically false.” The restaurant also alleges Hibbs made other “baseless allegations” about the food’s quality and pricing.
The restaurant maintains it warned Hibbs about potential legal action before the suit was filed on July 30. John Connell, an attorney representing the restaurant, sent Hibbs a cease and desist letter on July 19. He asked her to stop sharing defamatory statements about the company and to remove or retract each of the offending comments.
“Not only are your statements blatantly false, they are extremely damaging to Marlin Quay’s reputation and have caused and will continue to cause irreparable injury and damage to its business,” according to the letter, which was included in the court file. “It goes without saying, Marlin Quay takes it reputation very seriously, and it will not sit idly by while you make false and defamatory statements online.”
But after receiving the letter, Hibbs defended herself in a Facebook post, which was highlighted in the complaint.
“I’m sorry, but he’s going to SUE me for exercising my First Amendment rights?” Hibbs wrote, according to the lawsuit. “Go to his Google page. You will see what he says to other people as well. Apparently I’m a ‘Karen,’ a big mouth and cheap. LMAO! Business must suck for this little man!”
She also updated a Google review she left for the restaurant.
“Today I received a letter from his attorney,” according to her review, which still remains live on the company’s Google review page. “He is trying to sue me for speaking the truth…Attorney should be more concerned about the quality of the client they represent.”
The Quay Seafood Grille is part of the Marlin Quay Marina, a Murrells Inlet landmark since the 1960s. The restaurant’s menu features seafood platters, shrimp tacos, crab cakes, and burgers. The marina also offers fishing charters.
The restaurant’s lawsuit states that Hibbs dined with a large party on July 17. While eating, Hibbs told the waiter that “the food was excellent and the service was outstanding,” according to the suit.
The next day, Hibbs posted several reviews for Marlin Quay Marina on social media, including to Google Reviews, Yelp, and to a large Murrells Inlet-focused Facebook page called “Murrells Inlet, SC – I love the Inlet!,” which has over 100,000 followers, according to the complaint.
In at least one review, she mentioned her distaste for the food, saying “everything is fried” and “lots of fried food” in two separate reviews. She also claimed the restaurant only served tap water and mentioned that she asked the waiter to bring her a bottle of water. Hibbs criticized the menu prices, too, claiming “everything starts at $17,” according to the complaint.
Then, in her three reviews, she accused the restaurant’s waiter of stealing her credit card information, according to the lawsuit.
“Yes, there is a beautiful view, and I wasn’t even going to give a poor review, but now that my credit card information was stolen by one of their employees, the gloves are off,” Hibbs wrote in her initial Google Review, per the complaint. She also mentioned the theft of her credit card number in the Yelp review and a Facebook post.
In its July 19 letter to Hibbs, the restaurant said her description of its menu was inaccurate, noting that it offers grilled and blackened options and its prices range from $8.50-$45.
“Additionally, your online post falsely complains that you were served tap water,” the letter stated. “You deliberately omitted the fact that, upon your request, you were promptly provided with bottled water.”
After receiving the cease and desist letter and complaining to the owner, Hibbs revised her Google Review to remove the previous mention of the credit card theft, according to the lawsuit. Instead, the review, which is still live on the company’s Google review page, now includes the following:
“…I came home and found out my credit card number had been stolen, but I can’t prove it was anyone at this restaurant, even though that was the only place I used it,” according to her revised review. “The next day after complaining to the owner, I woke up to over 200 junk mails (emails) … Once again, I can’t say yes or no for sure, but sure seems sketchy.”
The restaurant called those revisions insufficient. Now, the company seeking damages for losses of business, customers and goodwill.
Jay Bender, a media law attorney with over 40 years of experience, said that it’s not unheard of for a business to sue a reviewer. But in the Palmetto State, those defamation cases are less common than ones involving politics and government.
Bender said claims of libel must have four components: The statements must be published, they must be about a person, organization or company, they must be proven false and they must be defamatory.
How a reviewer phrases criticism is key.
“Since the statement of opinion is protected, the restaurant will have to prove that the false statements were a fact and not an opinion,” Bender said. “If you say, ‘The food was overpriced,’ that’s an opinion, and that should be protected. If you say, ‘The menu said it was $17 but they charged me $25,’ that’s a fact. And if that’s false, then there could be liability.”
Then, he said, the restaurant would need to prove that it lost income or profits as a result of the publication.
“That might be difficult,” Bender said. “One of the difficulties in that is you don’t know how many people would have come to your restaurant had it not been for that review. So the only way to measure an injury to a corporation is a loss of profit.”
In addition to damages, the restaurant is asking the court to require Hibbs to remove the statements in question and stop making defamatory posts.
This story has been updated with comments from Diane Hibbs.
Follow Nicole Ziege on Twitter @NicoleZiege.
Local Government Reporter covering Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach and unincorporated Horry County.
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