A federal judge found Allure Esthetic of Seattle wrongly prevented patients from posting negative reviews with illegal NDAs and issued a summary judgment in the case. Not only did this surgeon buy fake reviews and have staff create fake reviews, he forced over 10,000 patients to sign NDAs preventing them from post reviews of less than 4 stars without first consulting with the surgeon. If they did post lower reviews they also had to agree to their private health information being divulged in the response. The case, first filed in late 2022, will go to trial in September and the main purpose of the trial will be to determine the monetary damages. Given the large number of patients affected and the high costs in this vertical, the fine should be substantial.

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EP 154 Near Memo 02