Opinion
No. 98-1317
February 10, 1999.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Celeste Hardee Muir, Judge.
Stanley J. Bartel, for appellant.
Stephens, Lynn, Klein McNicholas, and Philip D. Parrish, for appellees.
Before NESBITT, COPE and LEVY, JJ.
Affirmed. Defamatory statements made in the course of judicial proceedings are accorded absolute privilege. The privilege arises upon the doing of any act necessarily preliminary to judicial proceedings. See Levin, Middlebrooks, Mabie, Thomas, Mayes Mitchell v. United States Fire Ins. Co., 639 So.2d 606, 607 (Fla. 1994); Ponzoli Wassenberg, P.A. v. Zuckerman, 545 So.2d 309, 309-10 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Sussman v. Damian, 355 So.2d 809, 811 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977); 19 Fla. Jur.2d Defamation Privacy § 66 (1980). We agree with the trial judge that the written statement here was made as part of existing litigation between these parties.