You are here: / / STATEMENTS IN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT PLAINTIFF’S DIVORCE WHICH...
, ,

STATEMENTS IN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT PLAINTIFF’S DIVORCE WHICH REFERRED TO PLAINTIFF’S CONVICTION STEMMING FROM A BOILER ROOM PENNY STOCK OPERATION WERE ABSOLUTELY PRIVILEGED UNDER THE CIVIL RIGHTS LAW (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department determined the defamation action against a newspaper was properly dismissed. A newspaper article about plaintiff’s divorce referred to plaintiff’s criminal conviction stemming from a “boiler room” penny-stock operation and stating that plaintiff “tried to use his old tricks to swindle his estranged wife out of millions of dollars…”. Plaintiff stock operation inspired the movie “Boiler Room:”

“Civil Rights Law § 74 is an affirmative defense to a claim of defamation” … . That section provides that “[a] civil action cannot be maintained against any person, firm or corporation, for the publication of a fair and true report of any judicial proceeding, legislative proceeding or other official proceeding” (Civil Rights Law § 74). The privilege afforded by this statute is absolute “and is not defeated by the presence of malice or bad faith” … . “This absolute privilege applies only where the publication is a comment on a judicial, legislative, or other official proceeding . . . and is a fair and true’ report of that proceeding” … .

As to the threshold requirement that the publication purport to comment on a judicial, legislative, or other official proceeding, if the context in which the statements are made makes it impossible for the ordinary viewer, listener, or reader to determine whether the defendant was reporting on a judicial or other official proceeding, the absolute privilege does not apply … .

As to the requirement that the publication be a fair and true report of the official proceeding, the Court of Appeals has recognized that “newspaper accounts of legislative or other official proceedings must be accorded some degree of liberality” … . Accordingly, “[w]hen determining whether an article constitutes a fair and true’ report, the language used therein should not be dissected and analyzed with a lexicographer’s precision”… . Rather, “[f]or a report to be characterized as fair and true’ within the meaning of the statute, thus immunizing its publisher from a civil suit sounding in libel, it is enough that the substance of the article be substantially accurate”… .

Here, the subject newspaper article explicitly stated that it was describing the divorce action commenced against the plaintiff by his former wife … . Furthermore, the defendants’ documentary evidence established, as a matter of law, that the disputed language in the newspaper article was a “fair and true” report of the factual findings made in the divorce action … . Contrary to the plaintiff’s contention, “the inaccuracies cited by the plaintiff were not so egregious as to remove the article from the protection of Civil Rights Law § 74” … . Gillings v New York Post, 2018 NY Slip Op 07413, Second Dept 11-7-18

DEFAMATION (STATEMENTS IN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT PLAINTIFF’S DIVORCE WHICH REFERRED TO PLAINTIFF’S CONVICTION STEMMING FROM A BOILER ROOM PENNY STOCK OPERATION WERE ABSOLUTELY PRIVILEGED UNDER THE CIVIL RIGHTS LAW (SECOND DEPT))/CIVIL RIGHTS LAW (DEFAMATION, STATEMENTS IN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT PLAINTIFF’S DIVORCE WHICH REFERRED TO PLAINTIFF’S CONVICTION STEMMING FROM A BOILER ROOM PENNY STOCK OPERATION WERE ABSOLUTELY PRIVILEGED UNDER THE CIVIL RIGHTS LAW (SECOND DEPT))/PRIVILEGE (DEFAMATION, STATEMENTS IN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT PLAINTIFF’S DIVORCE WHICH REFERRED TO PLAINTIFF’S CONVICTION STEMMING FROM A BOILER ROOM PENNY STOCK OPERATION WERE ABSOLUTELY PRIVILEGED UNDER THE CIVIL RIGHTS LAW (SECOND DEPT))/NEWSPAPER (DEFAMATION, STATEMENTS IN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ABOUT PLAINTIFF’S DIVORCE WHICH REFERRED TO PLAINTIFF’S CONVICTION STEMMING FROM A BOILER ROOM PENNY STOCK OPERATION WERE ABSOLUTELY PRIVILEGED UNDER THE CIVIL RIGHTS LAW (SECOND DEPT))

You might also like
PLAINTIFF DID NOT HAVE STANDING TO CONTEST PROPERTY TRANSFER TO HER BROTHER BY HER MOTHER BASED UPON AN ALLEGATION MOTHER LACKED MENTAL CAPACITY AT THE TIME OF THE TRANSFER, PLAINTIFF HAD ONLY A POTENTIAL, SPECULATIVE INTEREST IN HER MOTHER’S PROPERTY.
THE “BUILDING” DEFENDANTS AND THE COMPANY WHICH INSTALLED AND MAINTAINED THE AIR CONDITIONING UNIT WHICH ALLEGEDLY LEAKED WATER ON THE FLOOR WERE NOT ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THIS SLIP AND FALL CASE; THE LANDLORD DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT WAS AN OUT-OF-POSSESSION LANDLORD; THE “BUILDING” DEFENDANTS DID NOT DEMONSTRATE THEY DID NOT HAVE ACTUAL OR CONSTRUCTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONDITION; AND THE COMPANY WHICH INSTALLED AND MAINTAINED THE AIR CONDITIONER DID NOT SHOW IT DID NOT LAUNCH AND INSTRUMENT OF HARM (SECOND DEPT).
PLAINTIFF DID NOT SUBMIT PROOF IT HAD THE FINANCIAL ABILITY TO CLOSE ON THE PURCHASE OF REAL PROPERTY, PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON ITS ACTION FOR SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE OF THE REAL ESTATE PURCHASE AGREEMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).
THE JUDGE’S SUA SPONTE DISMISSAL OF THE COMPLAINT FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH A STATUS CONFERENCE ORDER REVERSED; A JUDGE’S POWER TO DISMISS A COMPLAINT, SUA SPONTE, IS LIMITED AND SHOULD BE USED SPARINGLY (SECOND DEPT).
FAMILY COURT’S FINDING THAT FREEING THE CHILD FOR ADOPTION WOULD NOT BE IN THE CHILD’S BEST INTERESTS WAS NOT SUPPORTED BY A SOUND AND SUBSTANTIAL BASIS (SECOND DEPT).
THE BANK INCLUDED OTHER NOTICES WITH THE NOTICE OF DEFAULT, A VIOLATION OF THE SEPARATE ENVELOPE RULE (RPAPL 1304) (SECOND DEPT). ​
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ACTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISMISSED BASED ON A FINDING THE MOTION TO SUBSTITUTE THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF THE PLAINTIFF WAS UNTIMELY (SECOND DEPT).
FAMILY COURT DID NOT HAVE AUTHORITY TO SUA SPONTE VACATE A CONSENT ORDER IN THIS SUPPORT PROCEEDING, VACATION OF THE CONSENT ORDER AND THE RESULTING COMMITMENT ORDER REVERSED (SECOND DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

THE DEFENSE OF LACK OF STANDING WAS NOT RAISED IN THE ANSWER AND WAS THEREFORE... MOTION TO DISMISS THE COMPLAINT IN THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION FOR FAILURE TO TIMELY...