OMAHA (CN) — An Omaha attorney sued legal giant West Publishing Corp. and its internet site FindLaw, claiming he paid them $22,477 to maintain a website that was consistently offline, with missing content and numerous errors, which drove his internet presence lower rather than higher.
Robb N. Gage also sued corporate parent Thomson Reuters, on Oct. 6 in Douglas County Court. He says he paid FindLaw $22,476.82 to maintain a website for his office from May 2014 through July 2015. But it was a disaster, Gage says.
Among the "numerous errors and omissions" were missing content, changed webpage names and unauthorized links, and, he says, it advertised him as an immigration attorney though he asked FindLaw to remove that, and it said it would.
"Gage's web presence prior to FindLaw's launch had him significantly placed higher than where he was ever placed with FindLaw," he says in the complaint. He also received
"significantly less clients and money after FindLaw supposedly commenced its work to redesign the Gage website and improve the SEO [search engine optimization] for the Gage website," he says.
After a year of distress, Gage says, he removed his websites from FindLaw's control and put them on different servers.
Representatives of FindLaw did not respond to requests for comment.
FindLaw advertises to the general public with directories of lawyers on its website, and offers advertising and web development services for attorneys. It also markets a "Top Lawyers" magazine, though Gage says in the complaint: "This magazine supposedly contains the nations' top lawyers, however, it contains lawyers who pay to be in the magazine."
Gage seeks damages of at least $23,000, for fraud, deceptive business practices and breach of contract, and costs of suit.
He is represented by Nicholas Glasz.
Read the Top 8
Sign up for the Top 8, a roundup of the day's top stories delivered directly to your inbox Monday through Friday.
Additional Reads
-
Top 8 today September 19, 2023 -
-
Top 8 today September 13, 2023
-
