An amateur online restaurant reviewer in France has been fined €2,500 and ordered to pay €5,000 in costs for posting a negative review of a restaurant - before it even opened.
The unusual case involved the restaurant Loiseau Des Ducs - which received a Michelin star last year - in Dijon, central France.
The Local reports that the unnamed reviewer posted the review - in which the restaurant was described as "overrated" and "all show with very little actually on the plate" - on a French business directory site on 11th July 2013.
The restaurant owners noticed that the review had actually been posted several days before the eatery officially opened.
The owners paid €5,000 to have the review's author tracked down.
When brought before court, the reviewer was fined €2,500, and ordered to repay the restaurant's costs as well.
Restaurant representative Ahlame Buisard told La Monde that they pursued this reviewer as "a lesson to people who write these reviews in order to destroy”.
