Q: I left an honest negative review online of a business and when my wife went in the owner threatened her. Is this legal?

A: In Florida, while you have the right to leave an honest review about a business under the protection of freedom of speech, the owner's confrontational behavior towards your wife could potentially raise legal issues, depending on the specifics of the confrontation. If the owner's actions were merely verbally confrontational without threats of physical harm, it might not constitute a criminal act but could be seen as poor customer service. However, if the owner's behavior could be construed as threatening or creating a hostile environment, there might be grounds for legal action based on harassment or other applicable laws. The key issue here is the nature of the confrontation and whether it crossed the line from a business owner expressing dissatisfaction with a review to engaging in behavior that could be considered threatening or harassing.

A: You do have freedom of speech, and if the business is private (not governmental or connected to the government), the business has the right to deny service to anyone it wants to, except that it cannot discriminate on the basis of one of the "protected classes" under the law, such as race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, and disability. As long as it does not engage in unlawful discrimination, it can deny service to anyone it doesn't like, for any reason. If the business were owned by the government or operated with government funding, it might be violating First Amendment rights - which restrict what the government, not private entities or individuals, can do. Regarding the "threatening" aspect of the situation, you'll need to be more specific about what happened.