Opinion
2002-04945
Argued April 7, 2003.
May 5, 2003.
In an action to recover damages for defamation, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Satterfield, J.), dated May 2, 2002, which granted the motion of the defendant Richard L. Pike for summary judgment dismissing the second and third causes of action.
Jason Garber, New York, N.Y., for appellant.
Smetana, Schwartz McKeown, Melville, N.Y. (Patrick B. McKeown of counsel), for respondent.
Before: MYRIAM J. ALTMAN, J.P., GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN, GLORIA GOLDSTEIN, BARRY A. COZIER, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The Supreme Court properly granted the motion of the defendant Richard L. Pike for summary judgment dismissing the second and third causes of action. The alleged defamatory statements made by Pike were subject to a qualified privilege. In opposition to Pike's prima facie showing of entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, the plaintiff failed to come forward with evidence sufficient to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether the statements were made with constitutional or common-law malice, which would defeat the privilege (see Liberman v. Gelstein, 80 N.Y.2d 429; Leary v. DiBlasi, 251 A.D.2d 550).
ALTMAN, J.P., KRAUSMAN, GOLDSTEIN and COZIER, JJ., concur.