Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Burki v Seventy Thirty (EWHC, England and Wales): dating agency misrepresentation; Google review defamatory causing serious harm; Yelp review defended as true/honest opinion; damages reduced; malicious falsehood failed.

Published on: 17 August 2018

Published by a LexisNexis TMT expert

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Article summary

Burki v Seventy Thirty Ltd; Seventy Thirty Ltd v Burki [2018] EWHC 2151 (QB)

What was the background?

These proceedings stemmed from Ms Burki’s dissatisfaction with the service delivered by 70/30, a matchmaking company to which she paid £12,600 for assistance in finding a romantic partner. On its website, 70/30 promoted itself as an ‘Exclusive Matchmaking and Elite Introduction Agency’, stating that its members are high net-worth individuals drawn from diverse and distinctive backgrounds, nationalities, lifestyles and industries. During meetings and discussions with 70/30 personnel, Ms Burki made clear that any prospective partner must be willing to have children and, ideally, be of comparable wealth. Staff showed her member profiles and gave her information about 70/30 which, in substance, indicated there was a significant cohort of affluent male members who were actively involved with the agency’s matchmaking services. Ms Burki entered into a membership with 70/30 and, thereafter, received profiles of five men who each met her stated criteria; however, she did not achieve a mutual match with any of them, in that she liked them and they liked her. Ms Burki considered the calibre of the profiles to be lower than those she had previously seen from 70/30 staff...

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