On Sept. 9, 2011, plaintiff Montgomery Sansome LP, a mold remediation company, was called to Momentum for Mental Health, a 45-bed, in-patient mental health facility in San Jose, when mold was discovered by Sohyl Mahallati, a principal of Arch Construction, while he was performing remodeling work following a fire. However, when Montgomery Sansome’s remediation allegedly took longer than the estimate called for, Mahallati began to believe that Leonard Nordeman, Montgomery Sansome’s general partner, was attempting to steal his contract with Momentum for Health. As a result, on Sept. 23, 2011, Mahallati posted a negative review of Montgomery Sansome on Yelp.com, a local directory service with social networking and user reviews. Montgomery Sansome and Nordeman sued Sohyl Mahallati, individually and doing business as Arch Construction. They alleged that Sohyl’s actions constituted slander and libel. The plaintiffs initially erroneously brought the suit against “Sayl” Mahallati, Arch Construction and an Arch Construction employee and possible partner, Nasser Mahallati. However, Nasser Mahallati was dismissed from the case prior to trial and the case caption was amended to be against “Sohyl Mahallati, individually and doing business as Arch Construction.” Nordeman claimed that in the Yelp review, Sohyl Mahallati made false statements about him and Montgomery Sansome in regards to the mold remediation. The review read, “Len is the CEO of this company. If anyone hires this company, be ready to get ripped off. They are trying to milk my client for everything they can. They are dishonest, rude and should be shut down.” Nordeman further claimed that the review had an allegation of inappropriate sexual conduct by him towards Mahallati’s girlfriend. In addition, he claimed that Mahallati slandered him and his company when Mahallati called Bret Bradanini, the principal of Summit Claims, and said, among other things, “I did a site inspection with Montgomery Sansome; Len Nordeman was present and was drunk.” Defense counsel argued that Nordeman’s comment towards Sohyl Mahallati’s girlfriend was not an act of inappropriate sexual conduct. Mahallati claimed he only noted that Nordeman made an inappropriate comment toward her, which did not constitute libel. Defense counsel further argued that the statement, “…trying to milk my client…” did not constitute libel, since it was just an opinion. In addition, Bradanini testified that he believed he heard about Nordeman being drunk at the work site from someone at Momentum for Mental, but could not remember if he had heard it from Mahallati. During the trial, defense counsel moved for nonsuit as to the libel claim, and it was granted as the court determined that the content of Mahallati’s Yelp review did not constitute libel., Nordeman and Montgomery Sansome claimed that Summit Claims had been the source of $250,000 to $500,000 in annual business, but that after Mahallati’s Yelp posting and telephone call to Bradanini, all referrals stopped. Neil Hartman, who investigated the mold claim for Summit, testified that he had a $250,000 contract that he planned to refer to Nordeman, but that he was not allowed to do so because of the statements made by Mahallati. Nordeman also testified about not being referred Hartman’s $250,000 contract. Nordeman further claimed that after the Yelp review, he began suffering heart palpitations and extreme emotional distress. He alleged that as a result, he was hospitalized each month from February 2012 up until the time of trial. Thus, Nordeman and Montgomery Sansome sought an unspecified amount of damages for the loss of business, and further sought a phase on punitive damages. In addition, Nordeman sought general pain-and-suffering damages for his alleged heart and emotional distress problems, but he did not present any medical records regarding these alleged conditions.