Judge dismisses Yelp class action suit for good
The class action lawsuit against Yelp.com has been dismissed once again, a little more than a year and a half after it was originally filed against the company.
A judge dismissed the class action lawsuit against social reviews site Yelp, putting an end to a case filed against it by a group of unhappy business owners.
That suit, which was filed last February, claimed that Yelp was running an "extortion scheme" by asking businesses to pay the company in exchange for the removal of negative reviews, claims denied by Yelp.
"While we were confident that Yelp would ultimately prevail because we knew the allegations were false, it is helpful to have the matter resolved early so we can put these allegations behind us," Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman wrote in a post on the company's blog.
Stoppelman added that the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs involved cannot sue the company again with the same claims.
The plaintiffs' lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
This is the second time this particular case against Yelp has been dismissed. In March a federal judge dismissed it, giving its plaintiffs a months to refile after finding the "theories of extortion" to be "insufficient." The original suit had stemmed from a collection of suits filed during 2010 that took aim at Yelp and its advertising sales personnel. The suit was then retooled and refiled near the end of May to add an additional plaintiff and revised claims.