HOUSTON – A Houston-based Asian fusion restaurant and food chain is suing a former employee and her daughter, claiming the pair defamed it on social media.
Harris County District Court records show that Express Rolls, LLC sued Thu Lieu Thi Nguyen and Kieu Lieu Thu Cao on Aug. 29.
The plaintiff employed Nguyen as a food prepper from April to August of this year. During that time, the suit explains, Nguyen accused her superior of unfair treatment to which a third party investigator determined the latter was not at fault.
The suit adds that Nguyen last worked for Express Rolls on Aug. 23. Defendant Cao reportedly notified the complainant that her mother resigned.
Per court documents, the younger respondent then launched into disparaging Facebook and Twitter rants about the Express Rolls.
“In response to defendant Cao’s intentional campaign to disparage the plaintiff’s business and its employees, other Internet users began repeating and proliferating her defamatory statements and false narratives through social media, causing further irreparable injury to the plaintiff,” the original petition says.
Express Rolls asserts that it and its legal counsel reached out to the defendants in an attempt to have the posts in question taken down to no avail. The suit alleges that Cao agreed to make her publications private for three days but indicated that she would repost everything back to social media “if certain demands were not met by the plaintiff.”
“The disparaging publications by the defendants still appear to be hidden from public view,” the complaint says.
“However, as evidenced by her earlier comments telling the public not to visit or buy anything at Express Rolls, coupled with the public comments and feedback of other Internet users who have already seen and acted upon the defendants’ disparaging statements about the plaintiff by re-publishing/sharing her false and misleading narrative, there’s no ambiguity that the defendants are acting to hurt the plaintiff and damage the plaintiff’s reputation and business opportunities.”
Consequently, Express Rolls seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Attorney Grant A. Walsh of the law firm Culhane Meadows PLLC in Dallas is representing the plaintiff.
Harris County 152nd District Court Case No. 2016-57724 t