--- title: Petsitter Sues Couple for $6,766 Over Negative Yelp Review description: When a couple wasn't satisfied with the care their three pets received while they were on vacation, they wrote a negative review on Yelp. canonical: https://time.com/4231504/petsitter-sues-couple-negative-yelp-review/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-20T18:06:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:30:19.900Z og:title: Petsitter Suing Couple for $6,766 After Negative Yelp Review og:description: "I was beyond shocked and a bit scared" og:url: https://time.com/4231504/petsitter-sues-couple-negative-yelp-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21daa3bed4bdba59/69887e5fa988ca651e6b6a9e/yelp-review.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Yelp Inc. Illustrations Ahead Of 4th Quarter Earnings Report og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Petsitter Suing Couple for $6,766 After Negative Yelp Review twitter:description: "I was beyond shocked and a bit scared" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21daa3bed4bdba59/69887e5fa988ca651e6b6a9e/yelp-review.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Petsitter Suing Couple for Over $6,700 After Negative Yelp Review  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 20, 2016 6:06 PM UTC  The Yelp Inc. application is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone. The Yelp Inc. application is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone.Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 20, 2016 6:06 PM UTC When Robert and Michelle Duchouquette of Plano, TX, weren’t satisfied with the care their [three pets](http://time.com/money/4109464/pet-costs/) received while they were away on vacation, they wrote a [negative review on Yelp](http://www.yelp.com/biz/prestigious-pets-dallas?hrid=pEoiqQas4g4axoS1DSZVjA&utm%5Fcampaign=www%5Freview%5Fshare%5Fpopup&utm%5Fmedium=copy%5Flink&utm%5Fsource=%28direct%29) for Prestigious Pets, the company that had looked after the animals. The one-star [review](http://time.com/money/4052772/yelp-strange-reviews/) explained that — among other complaints — the camera attached to their fish bowl had shown that the petsitter had overfed their fish, causing the water to turn cloudy. “I think my review was fair. I went point-by-point on the things about the policies of the company I didn’t like,” Michelle told [CBS DFW](http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/02/17/yelp-review-lands-couple-in-court/). Prestigious Pets replied with a ostensibly-cordial response on [Yelp](http://time.com/money/4091521/yelp-revenue-40-percent-increase/), but sent the Duchouquettes a cease-and-desist letter shortly afterwards. “I was beyond shocked and a bit scared,” Michelle said. **Read More:** [Yelp Wants You to Review the Government](http://time.com/4002064/yelp-review-federal-agencies/) When the review was still not removed, the company sued for $6,766, claiming the couple had violated a “non-disparagement” clause in their contract. Nicole Williams, an anti-trust and trade regulation attorney at Thompson & Knight, said that similar lawsuits have been unsuccessful for breaching first amendment rights. “There are a lot of challenges that can be made to that clause that they are against public policy, that they infringe first amendment speech,” she said. Petsitter Sues Couple for $6,766 Over Negative Yelp Review ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4231504/petsitter-sues-couple-negative-yelp-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4231504/petsitter-sues-couple-negative-yelp-review/"},"headline":"Petsitter Suing Couple for Over $6,700 After Negative Yelp Review","datePublished":"2016-02-20T18:06:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:30:19.900Z","description":"\"I was beyond shocked and a bit scared\"","url":"https://time.com/4231504/petsitter-sues-couple-negative-yelp-review/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Pets","Business topic","Yelp","lawsuits"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21daa3bed4bdba59/69887e5fa988ca651e6b6a9e/yelp-review.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21daa3bed4bdba59/69887e5fa988ca651e6b6a9e/yelp-review.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Yelp Inc. Illustrations Ahead Of 4th Quarter Earnings Report","caption":"The Yelp Inc. application is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone .","creditText":"Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4231504/petsitter-sues-couple-negative-yelp-review/","name":"Petsitter Suing Couple for Over $6,700 After Negative Yelp Review"}}]}] ```