American litigiousness finds it's way here - successfully
So, in another telling blow for
stupidity everywhere, the restaurant, known as Coco Roco, has won it's
case against Fairfax publishing, for publishing a bad review of their
restaurant.

In a nutshell, the owners sued because of a bad review which (in their
words) defamed them and led to their restaurant closing. It's more than
interesting to note that we have seen no mention of other complaints &
such from past restaurant patrons. It's also a dangerous precedent that
a person employed as a reviewer can be sued (well, their publication
can) for expressing their opinion (which is what a review piece can boil
down to) of a restaurant and it's service.

Yes, there should be some form of checks & balances to stop vengeance
behaviour (the writing bad reviews to exact for some slight unattached
to the restaurant/food/service) but if the review is honest and the
reviewer's bona fides are established, then they are within their right
to say that the food/service is crap.

Does anyone remember the spate of lawsuits from people who simply didn't
take responsibility for their own actions... like walking down a street
and blaming their lack of watching-where-they-were-going on the Council
which had an 'uneven footpath'? The rash of such 'stupid cases' simply
caused The Public Liability insurance premiums to go up and up, finally
causing such idiocy as the cancellation of the 'Festival of The Winds' a
few years ago, due to insurance companies simply being unable to insure
such festivals where someone might slip over and have a boo-boo. Why?
It's because people are becoming too stupid/lazy to take responsibility
for their own actions. You don't like the possibility of kids watching a
certain film, or running across the road? Well then - do your job and
parent them. Look where you are going. Engage brain before speaking.
Sheesh! Is it SO hard?

Here's a hint for Aleksandra and Ljiljana Gacic and Branislav Ciric, the
owners: Unless you did something to royally piss off the reviewer, on a
personal level, your restaurant (that night) probably was
rubbish, and the menu served to the reviewer probably was as
unappealing as pig-swill. You get a bad review... wear it and learn. If
you sue, be damned sure that you can prove (what I will call) malicious
intent. If there isn't, expect a counter-suit from the
publication/reviewer. Also, here's a hint for Matthew Evans from Fairfax
Good Living. Be damned sure of your probity in writing a bad review. If
everything is above-board, you have nothing to worry about -
except people who are more interested in tying up our legal system with
spurious claims based on the US penchant for litigious behaviour for no
good reason except greed.