Two estate agents apologise in court over online reviews about employer
Proprietors of ABC Estates in London take two former employees to court after duo posted potentially defamatory reviews online using fake names.
Two estate agents in London have made a public apology in open court and face paying legal costs of £60,000 each after they posted critical reviews of their employer online using fake names.
Leaseholders’ charity LKP reports that Dhir Doshi and Thomas Govan, both of whom worked for ABC Estates in North London, were tracked down digitally by their employer after accusing the company’s management of fraud, dishonesty and permitting staff to steal from tenants all within 12 Google reviews posted using false names after they left the company.
But it is now possible to track down the real authors of such reviews using IP address identification technology, which was employed in this case.
Court action
Richard Davidoff and three members of his family who run ABC Estates then initiated defamation and libel action against the duo, who failed in court last December to have it struck down.
Doshi and Govan then faced either having to apologise in open court and pay ABC’s legal costs or go to a full trial.
Court papers unearthed by LKP suggest that the former course of action has now been chosen by the pair, who yesterday at 10.30am were due to make their public apology.
MP Peter Bottomley, who works closely with LKP on its long-standing battle to persuade Minister to reform the leasehold process in the UK, had attempted to drum up support in parliament for Doshi and Govan, tabling a motion at the end of March saying that “this House is concerned about how customers and employees can safely raise questions of business practice; and calls on the Select Committee on Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to invite Richard Davidoff to give evidence of his experience”.
Read more about Google reviews.
Looks like MP Peter Bottomley needs to make a public apology also !
MP’s are quick to jump on the tenants bandwagon in complaining about housing, too often without looking at the other ( landlord – Agents ) side of the story.