• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

Siding against Yelp, the Texas Supreme Court this week rejected the company's request to review a lower-court ruling that reinstated Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit over warning labels the review site placed on "crisis pregnancy centers."

The court did not give a reason for its decision, which left in place a ruling that allows Paxton to proceed with a lawsuit claiming the warning labels violated a Texas consumer-protection statute outlawing deceptive business practices.

A Yelp spokesperson said the company is disappointed in the decision.

"Yelp’s consumer notice at issue was truthful, accurate, and intended to help people make informed decisions about reproductive healthcare options," a spokesperson said Thursday.

The state Supreme Court's move came in a dispute dating to 2023, when Paxton sued Yelp over warnings stating that crisis pregnancy centers "typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite."

Yelp added those warnings in August 2022, soon after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, paving the way for states to outlaw abortion. Yelp later revised its notifications to state: “Crisis Pregnancy Centers do not offer abortions or referrals to abortion providers.”

Paxton alleged in a complaint filed in Bastrop County District Court that the warnings ran afoul of the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Yelp sought dismissal of the lawsuit for several reasons. Among others, the company said it could not be sued in Texas over warning labels placed on crisis pregnancy centers throughout the country.

A judge in Bastrop County threw out the case, but Paxton he appealed to the 15th District of Texas in Austin, which reinstated the matter.

That court ruled Paxton could proceed because Yelp "does substantial business in Texas," including by sending residents targeted ads.

The appellate judges said Paxton established that Yelp "purposefully directs tailored advertisements to Texas users," and that Yelp "tracks consumers’ keyword searches and uses that information to facilitate paid advertisements."

Yelp then urged the Texas Supreme Court to take up the case, arguing that the lower-court opinion could "open the floodgates for plaintiffs to sue out-of-state defendants in Texas for online content that does not target this state."

The tech industry group NetChoice backed that request, arguing that the ruling against Yelp could expose numerous web companies to lawsuits in Texas for "disseminating content that is available nationwide."

Yelp's spokesperson said Thursday that the company remains "committed to vigorously defending our constitutionally protected right to provide users with accurate information.”

NetChoice likewise said it was disappointed in the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the appeal. 

"The question about jurisdictional is bigger than any one company," Paul Taske, director of NetChoice's litigation center stated. "It's not just an issue for large companies like Yelp; it affects websites of every size across the country."