A woman who is being sued for posting negative reviews against a dentist on Yelp has responded with a counterclaim, asserting the dentist never contacted her about the negative reviews, but instead threatened to use “patient-doctor communications” to “blackmail” her.
On Dec. 4, Irem Arseven, of Matteson, filed her response to the lawsuit brought against her by dentist Christopher J. Neal, of Chicago Kidds Pediatric Dentistry in Palos Hills.
In that lawsuit, filed Oct. 9 in Cook County Circuit Court, Neal accused Arseven of defamation for posting an allegedly false negative review against him and his practice on Yelp. The lawsuit asserted the review accused Neal of performing unnecessary work for profit and not being a “real dentist.”
The lawsuit asserted he asked Arseven to take down the review, but she refused.
In her response, however, Arseven in turn accused Neal of attempting to harass and intimidate her into taking down the review.
In her counterclaim, Arseven claimed the dentist “made threats to disclose information he allegedly obtained in confidence from the patients … with the intent to intimidate and harass (Arseven) into deleting her opinions from Yelp.com.”
Arseven specifically accused Neal of intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of the Medical Patient Rights Act of Illinois.
She has requested judgment in her favor, including $1,000 in statutory damages for the alleged violation of the Medical Patient Rights Act and reimbursement of her legal expenses.
She is represented by attorneys Daniel A. Hawkins and Antonio Flores of Erwin Law LLC, of Chicago.
Neal is represented by Stuart M. Nagel and Jay C. Orseno of Chalmers & Nagel PC in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 18-L-010912