Law firm suing 20-year-old woman for writing a bad review online

They are seeking up to $200,000 in damages in defamation suit

KPRC

A Texas law firm filed a lawsuit against a 20-year-old woman for the heinous act of posting a negative online review.

Lan Cai briefly hired lawyers from Tuan A Khun, a Houston-area law firm, after she was struck by a drunk driver on her way home from her restaurant job. She broke two bones in her back during the crash.

Ms Cai said they ignored her emails and phone messages after she signed a contract to have them represent her – and thus decided to leave a less than favourable review of the firm on Facebook and Yelp.

Soon after, she was hit with a defamation lawsuit from the firm that could cost her between $100,000 and $200,000 in damages.

“I feel like they’re trying to pull every single penny out of me,” Ms Cai told the Houston Press, “just because I didn’t want to be their client.”

Ms Cai detailed her experience with the firm in a 30 June post to Facebook, warning her friends not to visit the firm, even if they offer lower rates than other lawyers.

“After 3 days they didn’t tell me anything about the doctor I needed to go to,” she wrote. “I was in a lot of pain. Not only that, they didn’t know where the hell my car was!”

She added in the post that the attorneys entered her room to discuss case specifics while she was asleep and wearing only her underwear.

Keith Nguyen, an attorney at Tuan A Khun, reportedly responded to her review via email.

“It has come to my attention that you have posted some disparaging words on your Facebook account,” the email said. If you do not remove the post from Facebook and any other social media site, my office will have no choice but to file suit.”

Mr Nguyen elaborated to the Press why her review prompted the suit.

“It puts us in a bad light,” he said. “I [told Ms Cai], ‘You can say that, but you need to add that we were invited’. And she never did. She went ahead and wrote more bad things.”

In addition to her server job, Ms Cai is a nursing student at Houston Community College. However, due to her injury in the car accident, as well as the ongoing battle with finding representation, she is going to take a semester off.