Fertility Clinic That Worked In Basking Ridge Must Allow Negative Social Media Reviews: NJ Officials

NEWARK, NJ — Does a private business have the right to prevent its customers from posting negative reviews online? Nope, New Jersey authorities say.

On Wednesday, state officials in Newark announced that they reached a settlement with a national fertility clinic that allegedly tried to prevent its customers from posting negative social media reviews of their experience by threatening them with fines of up to $10,000.

Prosecutors said that the clinic - Fertility Bridges Inc. - operates from offices in Illinois and California and offers egg donation and consulting services nationwide, including New Jersey, according to a joint news release from Attorney General Christopher Porrino and the Division of Consumer Affairs (DCA).

According to the company’s website, it has worked with fertility clinics in Basking Ridge, Flemington and Voorhees Township.

Prosecutors said that the company had potential customers sign contracts which included a clause that restricted its customers from “taking any action that negatively impacts an organization, its reputation, products, services, management or employees.”

The contract allegedly required that any online review of the company be vetted by the firm’s attorneys and warned consumers that anonymous online reviews could be tracked by IP addresses.

Penalties in the contract allegedly included a $10,000 per day “libel fine” until the post or complaint was removed, prosecutors said.

However, a New Jersey DCA investigation found that the company’s “online reviews clause” effectively amounted to a gag order on dissatisfied consumers, prosecutors said.

“Customers have the right to complain publicly about what they feel are substandard services rendered by a company,” Attorney General Porrino said.

As a result of the DCA allegations, the company agreed in a consent order to remove the relevant clauses from its contracts with its New Jersey customers and pay a $1,500 fine. In addition, the company represented that it would remove the clauses in its contracts throughout the United States.

The New Jersey settlement mirrors a recent federal law signed by President Barack Obama, the Consumer Review Fairness Act, which prohibits the inclusion of clauses in form contracts that seek to restrict consumers from posting reviews on the internet, prosecutors stated.

File Photo: Flickr Commons

— By Eric Kiefer (Patch Staff)