Plaintiffs, Who Provided Management Services to a Club Described in the Media as “Run by the Mafia,” Did Not Raise a Question of Fact About Whether the Remark Was “Of and Concerning” the Plaintiffs by “Innuendo”

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Tom, over a two-justice partial dissent, determined that the defamation claims were properly dismissed. The plaintiffs provided management services to a club, Cheetah’s, but did not own or run the club (plaintiffs provided food services and booked dancers). The club was raided by federal authorities and arrests were made based upon allegations of illegal “trafficking” of women who performed as exotic dancers at the club. A news report about the raid characterized the club as “run by the mafia.”  The defamation claims were deemed properly dismissed because the relevant remarks were directed to “Cheetah’s,” and were not, therefore, “of and concerning” the plaintiffs by “innuendo.” The dissenters argued plaintiffs had raised a question of fact whether the “run by the mafia” statement was “of and concerning” them.  The majority explained:

A plaintiff bears the burden of pleading and proving that the asserted defamatory statement “designates the plaintiff in such a way as to let those who knew him understand that he was the person meant” … . While a plaintiff may use extrinsic facts to prove that the statement is “of and concerning” him, he must show the reasonableness of concluding that the extrinsic facts were known to those to whom the statement was made … . Plaintiffs seek to state their case by innuendo. As this Court stated:

” The question which an innuendo raises, is [one] of logic. It is, simply, whether the explanation given is a legitimate conclusion from the premise stated.’ The innuendo, therefore, may not enlarge upon the meaning of words so as to convey a meaning that is not expressed” (… quoting Tracy v Newday, Inc., 5 NY2d 134, 136 [1959], affd 25 NY2d 943 [1969]).

The suggestion that the individual plaintiffs are necessarily identified as members of organized crime because they are employees of entities that provide management services to Cheetah’s — reported to be “run” by the Mafia — is simply not logical. It is based on innuendo and constitutes an attempt to enlarge the concept of managerial services to include domination and control of an organization by force, whether actual or threatened, in contravention of the rule set forth in Tracy. Three Amigos SJL Rest., Inc. v CBS News Inc., 2015 NY Slip Op 06409, 1st Dept 8-4-15