The case appears to mark the first time that a Yelp user was sued for defamation for posting a bad review. Some observers had warned that the lawsuit could scare consumers from posting negative reviews on sites like the fast-growing Yelp, which recently expanded into the U.K.

Norberg posted a brief statement on his Web site, standforspeech.com, which he launched to inform people about the lawsuit. "A misunderstanding between both parties led us to act out of hand," he wrote late Friday, after the case was resolved through mediation.

The site previously hosted a copy of lawsuit, brought in California state court by Steven Biegel, along with the original post. That material appeared to have been removed by the weekend.

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