A professional comedian is being sued after sharing what she says was a poor customer service experience at a Koreatown plastic surgery practice.
In a lawsuit filed against her, clinic management suggests that false statements within her story amount to libel and slander, and that business is down this month because of it.
Korean-American standup comedian and social media personality Tina Kim shared a video critical of WAVE Plastic Surgery’s customer service on November 7.
Kim begins by suggesting viewers not go to the practice, before recounting her own interactions with the clinic’s front desk, in what she says was an unscheduled visit.
@kdramalogic My Review of walking into Wave Plastic Surgery Center in Koreatown, LA – horrible customer service in person & on phone even after one year they haven’t improved at all – I wouldn’t waste my time w this Wilshire location def go elsewhere #plasticsurgery #faceclinic #koreatownla #review #kdramalogic#CapCut ♬ Crickets in the countryside(1177489) – Deiko
“Keep in mind, guys: They might have great doctors there,” Kim says on video.
“My review is just me going in as a customer and the way they treated me. Personally, I would never do anything, give them any business….
“So again, this is just the customer service I received at WAVE Plastic Surgery, and they are a thumbs down guys,” she said.
While many viewers seemingly interpreted the three-minute take as dramatic but helpful, the clinic felt otherwise.
WAVE Plastic Surgery, Inc., filed a 21-page lawsuit against Kim on December 7, after the video had accumulated 53,000 views.
The suit, filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles, alleges slander, libel, and false light.
The clinic is seeking unspecified monetary damages “in an amount not less than $250,000,” according to the lawsuit.
It suggests it has video footage that contradicts a core claim made by Kim, regarding how long she waited in the practice.
“This is ridiculous[,] someone’s going to get SLAPPed.”
Tina Kim, professional comedian and social media personality.
Speaking to the Times on Wednesday afternoon, Kim said, “This is ridiculous[,] someone’s going to get SLAPPed.”
Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute defines a “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP suit)” as “lawsuits brought by individuals and entities to dissuade their critics from continuing to produce negative publicity. By definition, SLAPP suits do not have any true legal claims against the critics.”
“People bring SLAPP suits because they can either temporarily prevent their critics from making public statements against them or more commonly to make critics spend all of their time and resources defending the SLAPP suits,” Cornell University writes.
Legal proceedings alone determine fault and liability, the outcome of any individual lawsuit, and whether a lawsuit is deemed a SLAPP or not. No such proceedings have yet taken place in this case; a lawsuit has merely been filed.
WAVE alleges that since Kim’s video was posted, its Koreatown location has “had a sharp decline in new customers/patient sign-ups,” according to its own year-over-year comparison which showed a “lower number of new customers signed up with Plaintiff in the month of November.”
“Plaintiff is informed and believes that the sharp decline in new customer sign-ups are directly related to Defendant KIM’s Video,” the lawsuit states in part.
No wrongdoing has been proven against either party; a lawsuit has merely been filed over the video.
A Times phone call to the Clinic’s phone number was answered by a call center staffer who said she couldn’t comment. The Times reached out on Tuesday to the legal firm it was referred to, but has yet to hear back.
Of the incident, WAVE Plastic Surgery CEO Dr. Peter Lee tells Fox News “all of our staff were busy at that particular time,” but that he considers the video went “beyond a simple review.”
For the latest, see also: Sued by Surgery Center, Defamation Defendant Seeks Motion to Strike, Jan. 24, 2024.