Levitt v. Yelp! Inc. [1]

Boris Levitt, owner of Renaissance Furniture Restoration in San Francisco, brought a class action lawsuit against Yelp! Inc. in California state court, alleging violations of California unfair competition law and negligent and intentional misrepresentation. The lawsuit came weeks after other small business owners filed similar [2] lawsuits [3] against Yelp in federal court in California. 

Like the other class action complaints, Levitt's complaint alleges that Yelp runs an extortion scheme, in which Yelp! supposedly promises to positively manipulate user reviews in exchange for the purchase of advertising, and implicitly threatens to detrimentally manipulate reviews if business owners refuse. Specifically, Levitt claims that a number of positive reviews about his business disappeared days after he declined a request to purchase advertising on Yelp. The complaint also alleges that Yelp misrepresents that its reviews are unbiased, causing injury to Levitt's business.

On March 30, 2010, Yelp removed the case to federal court, where it presumably will be consolidated with the other class action lawsuits.

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman has [4] repeatedly [5] denied [6] moving reviews around to reward advertisers and punish non-advertisers.