Lawyer Chris Nyst sues Google, Brisbane man for $300k over one-star review

One of Queensland’s top lawyers and his son have launched $300,000 claim against Google and a Brisbane man after he left a “false” review of their practice despite never being a client and the tech giant repeatedly ignored requests to remove it.

A HIGH profile Queensland criminal lawyer has sued trillion-dollar global giant Google and a Queensland man for $300,000 after he gave his law firm a one-star review online.

Chris Nyst, who has defended ‘Postcard Bandit’ Brendan Abbott, Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto and conman Peter Foster, and his son Brendan Nyst claim in their District Court lawsuit that the one-star Google search review is defamatory.

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They say it has embarrassed, humiliated, hurt and distressed them and caused damage to their firm Nyst Legal, based in Southport on the Gold Coast.

In their statement of claim filed in Brisbane this month, the pair claim that Jaimyn Mayer, from South Brisbane, wrote the “false” review in February last year, despite never having been a client of the firm, and that he intended to cause damage to the Nyst business or hurt the father and son duo.

Lawyer Chris Nyst at his office at Southport on the Gold Coast. Photo: Regi Varghese

The pair allege the review – which did not contain any comments, just the one-star rating – was defamatory because it implied they “provide poor service and should be avoided, are unprofessional, inept and the quality of work they produce is poor”.

Mr Nyst and his son are unable to state how many web-surfers read the review, but allege that they sent Mr Mayer two concerns notices in March but Mr Mayer failed to remove the review.

Mr Mayer admits he failed to respond to the letters Nyst Legal sent him asking him to take down the review.

They also allege they wrote to Google in April and June in a bid to have the review taken down from the web, but that it has not been removed.

They have asked the court to award them $150,000 in general damages and $150,000 in aggravated damages for the failure to take the negative review down.

Mr Mayer admits publishing the one-star review despite never having been a client of Nyst Legal, saying it was based on his “knowledge of legal work performed by the business”.

He denies the review was defamatory and says the review was of the business run by Nyst Legal and was not a review of Chris and Brendan Nyst.

Mr Mayer says he did not intend to hurt or embarrass Mr Nyst and his son or damage their business but was aiming to communicate a “substantially true” review of the Nyst Legal business.

No date for hearing has been set by the court.

Mr Mayer’s solicitor declined to comment when approached by The Courier Mail.

Originally published as Lawyer Chris Nyst sues Google, Brisbane man for $300k over one-star review