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I won the lawsuit!!!

I’m really not a good writer neither am I great in speeches which is what I believe this verdict deserves. I was extremely nervous today waiting to find out the outcome as you can imagine and it was such an incredible relief to find out I won.

I’m really not sure what to say other than the fact this ruling goes to show how much freedom of speech is highly respected in Kuwait. I love living here and I love having the right to state my personal opinion on this blog. I really want to thank EVERYONE for all the support that you gave me. Seriously what you guys did was just incredible and really gave me the courage to fight this out till the end. I also want to thank my lawyer Khaled Al Shamali from The Group Law Firm for taking this case and doing an amazing job. And most importantly I want to thank the judge and the court for their ruling.

I hope no other blogger will have to go through what I did and I hope the result of this case will serve as an example that you can’t stop people from stating their personal opinions.

Thanks again everyone!

PS: If you have no idea what lawsuit I am talking about click [Here]

264 replies on “I won the lawsuit!!!”

Congrats Mark you really didn’t do anything wrong but express your point of view which is respected in Kuwait : ‘D

Yay! Man that incredible. Says a lot of freedom of speech in the country. Now this makes me feel so good, I would think the whole drama was worth it. At least now we know such companies can’t scare bloggers like us!

I was looking forward to trying Benihana, but this childish behavior on their behalf is just downgrading, i will not even set foot in that place.
Congrats!

It is a shame! A free-meal, or even a kind invitation to Mark could have solved the review negativity.

You know all restaurants under soft or new opening suck for someone. Too bad it happened to Mark in Benihana, so he wrote a not so favorable review.

Although I had a pleasant food-experience, the reaction of the owners representative lawsuit stopped me until now from going. Probably I would avoid dealing with the onwers for life. Their action makes me vote with my money and keep it away from them in everything I want to buy and sell.

Congratulations!

I think, but am not sure, that you can make them pay for the lawyer fees.

You should have asked! If it was really final, that means you won’t have to worry about Benihana’s apeal, or it might be final enough for them not to consider it.

Congrats again!

Q8RedFlag.com would like to congratulate
your efforts in fighting this Benihana Lawsuit which took
2-4 months now. We admire the struggles that you’ve been
through…. Q8redflag.com wishes mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com all the best inshAllah… Enjoy the rest of the evening eating frozen yoghurt;)

Lame attempt at trying to plug your website. If its content is as weak as your comment I’m sure no one would bother.

Congrats Mark, it’s truly inspiring when the law works in tandem to common sense and general rights, more so when it comes to freedom of speech, as a journalist in the region, it gives me great pride and a bit of an emotional boost knowing that you stuck it to the corps doing the right thing….

Now, tell me, are they paying your Law suit costs and other things? and if you will get a pay out… what will you spend it on..i bet you ain’t going to that place any more…LOL

No payout yet or anything of the sort. THey have 30 days to appeal the court decision. if they dont then the case gets closed and I can then seek compensation for my lawyer fees.

First of all congratulation mark,
this is my first post n a long one too.
i m no expert on law but may i suggest few things, dont just seek compensation for my lawyer fees.
sue them back i know its gonna b expensive but if blog community come up together with followers its possible to raise a fund,i m sure its not just benihana that sued you it was backed up by more food co. to send a message( my opinion) to blog community.
now you can sue them for stress they have caused, Defamation of you and your blog( which is worth $ 38,949, https://248am.com/mark/kuwait/im-being-sued-by-benihana/)if you add all this accusations in a lawsuit it will all be individually heard.

P.S. Law experts please light us up accordingly.

Great news indeed! I expect Benihana is hoping this whole thing will go away as the amount of negative publicity they’ve gotten is unbelievable… I hope they fire the fool who brought the lawsuit in the first place!

Congrats Mark! Kuwait always had the ‘freedom of speech’ edge over its neighbors and so happy the judicial system delivered justice on this case.

(Dancing in circles) Mabroooooooook! Way to go, Mark!

On behalf of bloggers like me, who write about our every day experiences (good or bad) in Kuwait: You took up the sword for us against those who would test the extent of freedom of speech in blogsphere; and you had the courage and conviction to continue to write about your legal ordeal throughout.

As a fellow blogger, I sincerely thank you for establishing this prescedent. Congratulations!

Hey Mark!
Congratulations for winning your case. I’m glad that we can still rely on a fair judicial system even in the Middle East. This only comes to show how far the Arab world has gotten but still have a long way to go. Besides winning the case, you also got a bit of fame. I mean we ALL know who 248am is 🙂 So yea everything happens for a reason
Cheers,
K

Mabrouk dude, justice in the end. They have given themselves a bad name, lost customers and in the end got nothing out of it. Not only will i never visit Benihana, I even stopped having subways, they started using inferior product, and ruined their sandwiches. Plus i couldn’t stand their attitude. Again Mabrouk, serves that little man that started this whole thing, bet he loses his job. Shame that still wont save their tarnished image.

Congrats Mark…. I bed the look on the faces of their lawyer and Benihana people worth a million Dinar!!! now its your turn to serve them with a court order!!! loool

Congratulations! You must feel like an enormous weight have been lifted off your chest! Phew!

I knew it! I had no doubt whatsoever that you were going to win this lawsuit

Lets just hope that the owner will not appeal, though I am certain that nothing in the verdict will change 😀

You deserve compensation for the ordeal you’ve been put through, just saying.

Wow!!! I didn’t imagine I would be THIS happy! Mabrouk!! Wow justice rules, I’m impressed with the law in Kuwait, we should have a twitter celebration:)

That’s fantastic! You, the bloggers of Kuwait, the public and The Group Law Firm are the winners in this case and the “other party” can limp away and eat their humble pie.

You know Mark , if i was the owner of that restaurant , i wouldn’t have made that lawsuit and i would have asked you to come again and i will serve you for free and ask you to write a new review; so that i can gain your trust and the people who follow your blog but unfortunately they were stupid enough to make that lawsuit and they lost it … so Congratulations Benihana you have lost your customers and your reputation …

Congrats! This is just right! Now, it’s your turn to file a lawsuit against them and earn the KD5001!!!!

I wonder how their PR manager feels right now!!!!

Congrats mark! Real happy for u and all the bloggers. That should give all resturants and all companies out there a lesson. We have the right to write whatever we believe in. Am really glad u won this and am proud that we have bloggers like you to represent Kuwait in such a beautiful way. keep going sir your doing an extraordinary job!

I am no poet
But I can’t remain quiet

Wondering how can I convey my happiness
Here is my poem throuhgh which I want to express

Because you won the law suit
It really makes us fellow bloggers go in pursuit

For the thing which you have in abundant
which we wish we had it in the present

And then we realise the thing is courage
The realisation that it is the conqest of fear at such a young age

We cannot more than express our elation
All we can say is ‘CONGRATULATION’.

We wish you all success and elevation
In this black golden nation

ALF MABROOK!!!

Congrats! Although it was very likely that the court will rule for you, it’s a huge relief for all bloggers around Kuwait 🙂

Always express yourself 🙂

Don’t thank the judge, thank the legal system. Kuwait is probably the only Arab country with a properly functioning legal system. Justice was served. God bless Kuwait.

This is great news! Really happy for you man. Everyone I know in Kuwait checks 248am regularly, and they were all rooting for you. 🙂

P.S. You won on my birthday! awesome ^^

Congrats Mark! great news indeed, must be such a relief, and a whole weight lifted off of your shoulders. its a shame that you had to go throw this, but you have done the rest of the bloggers and other residents of this country an eye opener that we can voice our opinion and the law would b supportive of that right. again Many congrats x

Congrats Mark, you deserve this victory and this is also a victory for all bloggers in Kuwait and the Gulf. Woo hoo

WHoooHOOOO..where the party at, Mark?

Happy for you Mark, cos you were only following what you love to do. Bravo and good luck.

dang, i shouldn’t have subscribed to this comment thread, never received so many emails in one day LOL….

Congrats!
You have set a precedent.from now on people in Kuwai will think twice before sueing a blogger over his personal opinion.keep up the good work.

الف الف مبرووك .. لو انا منك ارفع عليهم قضيه رد اعتبار و تعويض عن حالت التوتر الي مريت فيها 🙂 ..

مبروووك

I believe this is a very good step. now in order to set a precedent, we need at least a court of appeal awarding the same and of course, always behaving in a responsible way. Mark proved his true and good intentions and that was the only reason behind winning the case.

Congratulations Mark.. You truly deserve it…

Let this ruling be a slap in the face to all the freedom of speech haters…

As for Servo…hmmm what do ya think the conversation will be behind Benihana Management doors?? Hmmmmmm lets see I think its going to be more like the managing director saying ..Fuck Him …Fire his Ass for doing more bad then good for the brand..talk about creating a mountain out of a mole hill.. all the dumb fuck had to do was invite the blogger and his wife back for a meal on the house so that he could re-review his experience and be done with it ..but NO the great Servo had to drag us into a law suit… get us all this bad publicity and in the end LOSE !! .. great work legal. Whoever advised this course of action is fired too.. dumb asses.. Yeah FIRE Servo’s ASS !!! and be done with it.

Congrats! I had no doubt. The case was ridiculous to begin with. I still have not been to Benihana and don’t plan to after what they did.
What were the words of the judge. Did he say “Grow up!” to the Benihana manager?

Blog on Dude!

الشعب يريد اسقاط مارك 🙂

الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف ال فالف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف ال فالف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف ال فالف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف ال فالف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف ال فالف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف ال فالف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف الف

مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروكمبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك مبروك

Congrats Mark, and can you tell us excatly what happened in the court, what did the judge ask you if it is ok with you

Congrats Mark…We can’t imagine what you have to go through this period… but your this case will sure serve as mile post for blogging community and also for the businesses to learn something on how to react for a negative review…

Anyways.. Alf Mabrooook

PS. I hope as a treat we gota sell n purchase phones here 😉

مبروك ….
وانشالله يتعلمون غيرهم انه عندنا حرية الراي بالكويت ومايحاولون يطلعون فلوس على ظهر غيرهم
الف مبروك مارك

Congrats Mark!!! and great job on setting the precedent for all bloggers in the online community!!!!

An enterprise should learn to take in constructive criticism and not try to bully people into silencing their opinions. COZ U WILL FACE THE WRATH OF THE BLOGGERS IF U DO!!!!!!!!!

WOOOTSSSSS!!!!!!!

Congrats Mark!!! Great News, wish everyone can learn from this experience we’re all people at the end of it. Expressing one’s opinion or being biased is still just an opinion. I dont know why Benihana acted they way they did, it really turned out bad on their side. Personally i’m a blogger and those who attack bloggers wont be on my friends list anytime soon. So bye bye benihana, would’ve like to try your dining experience but then again i’d rather go eat somewhere else. I wouldn’t recommend you to anyone, and its ok to recommend people places to eat instead of other places. Its like recommending one perfume over another its a matter of taste. I really hope they change the guy that thought of suing mark in the first place. That will at least make me change my mind about going to benihana.. An apology maybe would also make things a lot better hehe.. but then who cares restaurants in kuwait are the only things we have so much of we can donate food to the whole world 😀

This is great news, I really wish you the best and keep those comments coming! Banihana you will never see me in any of your restaurants anymore, not only in Kuwait, but wherever you may have a branch (Dubai, Beirut, Europe, wherever….) I highly respect the juridical system in Kuwait…

Congrats. Its good to know that Freedom of speech and expression is respected ATLEAST in courts in this country!

Mark, how do i stop receiving notifications. I’m mad, I clicked on Manage your subscriptions and removed all subscriptions, still i was receiving emails then I clicked to block receiving emails, got the confirmation email and clicked on it but still i’m receiving emails.
HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol, hats off to you Mark

altho, unintentionally, you did give them publicity, i dont think u will find anyone in kuwait who doesnt know the name benihana now, right?

and as they say in marketing, theres no such thing as bad publicity.

a double-edged sword,,

but seriously, congrats 🙂

Dear Mark, Havent been here for a long time. But happy to find the news that you won. Good work. Must have been hell but glad you pulled through. Enjoy.

MAARK !!

WHERE IS OUR KHAROOF lol… thibee7a…

hey nice job !

P.S…. just dont go around bashing other businesses (not aggressively tho lol ).. 🙂

Congrats Mark!!!

you deserved to win this case… the victory was always gonna be yours….

now upload a pic of champagne in the blog… lets celebrate your victory 😉

this is more than a personal victory. this is a milestone judgement which upholds several finer aspects about fairness that were in question in a country like kuwait.

hope this is a good judicial precedence. i also hope that slanderers won’t ruin this.

Hi Mark.

As a result of your determination and victory in Court you (seem to) have created a precedent which makes ​​it possible for every blogger in Kuwait to write reviews about hamburger-, Chinese-, Japanese- and other restaurants, without them being threathened by a lawsuit.

It appears to me that this non-conviction by the Court is simply based on the legal protection of the freedom of publication. Because of this excisting right, which is enshrined in your Constitution(art. 36 & 37), I still don’t understand what the arguments have been for the Court to accept this lawsuit.

Anyhow, Congratulations!

Congratulations ! Very happy for you !
Keep blogging FREELY !
Thanks for all the tips about living in Kuwait, I have just moved you and your blog is simply great!

Congratulations Mark 🙂

I’m really glad for you

Everytime I think of Banihana, I remember their stupid lawsuit !

Congratulations, justice & common sense prevailed. Benihana really shot themselves in the foot, a mixed review would never put me off going to a restaurant but them suing you has crossed them off my list for good.
Congratulations again.

mabrouuuuuuuuuuuk 🙂 man you should now ask for compensate as they depressed you and made you go through all this.. pay back the B**** lol

Dear Mark!

That’s simply awesome! We hope you always freely express your opinion 🙂

Keep it up and we always hope to hear your feedback (good or bad, although we’d prefer the good hehe) at Roadster diner

Hady C
Rd Team!

Mark,
Congratulation on winning the lawsuite, however you should now that this is the first degree court so expect that your opponent may decide to appeal the court decision so be prepared for a long and vicious fight.
Have a good day

others have said it more eloquently before me, but congrats!

My son (11y.o.) is upset I refuse to take him there as a result of their childish behaviour – this has been a great lesson for him as well!

i gotta tell ya this i was more stressed then ya on this case !!! 7amdela its all good now congrats ! la9ama7alla anything happens 2 ur blog office time is gone b hard n boaring 😛 mabrook

Congrats Mark!!!

Sad Benihana have probably lost about a 1000+ customers already. The word will go on & turn to 10,000 soon.

Anyways this is one of the BEST FAIR JUDGEMENT NEWS coming out from the law system here!

Im glad you won, but it doesnt really say anything about the state of freedom of speech in Kuwait. We already know that people whose names are well imprinted into the local consciousness, or have clout, have a better chance than others. So thats not necessarily free speech, cus i dont think a bengali who nobody knows would stand a chance.

Mark, congrats man ive been following along with the law suit and im really glad to hear it turned out like that! I really like the blog, keep it up!

In honor of Mark, Beni-Can-i-Sue-u should change the name it’s crap surf and turf dish to Btw…Are U Lebanese?

I stil wouldn’t go, but I would smell there grease on the way to the bathroom. Btw Al-shaya nice job on giving them a location, let’s see if u guys are willing to kick them out, I mean come on we need another Starbucks to fill that little gap there. Please please please……I don’t want to walk an extra 20 feet to trip on my Frapachino fix……

mabrouk mark!!!!! this is great news… of course you were going to win coz they had no reason to sue you in the first place 🙂

mabrouk 🙂

I congratulate you Mark for not only winning the case, but for setting a new precedent for the Kuwaiti Blogging Community.

With your example, I think you’ve made everyone that cares about freedom of speech a lot more confident to state their opinions without fear.

alf Mabroooook mark! We are all so happy for you.. YOU are a LandMark here in Kuwait, We all feel
for you..:-)

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