Opinion
February 2, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Monroe County, Willis, J.
Present — Callahan, J.P., Boomer, Green, Pine and Lawton, JJ.
Order unanimously affirmed with costs. Memorandum: Reviewing the proof submitted in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, we conclude that Supreme Court properly denied defendant's motion for summary judgment. This defamation action stems from defendant Sheriff's issuance of a news release which "announced the resignation of Robert P. Stanwick, superintendent of Monroe County Jail, as the result of an internal investigation he ordered into suspected improprieties relating to his reception" held at the jail to celebrate defendant's installation as Sheriff. Plaintiff's complaint alleges that this news release damaged both his reputation and his career as a correction superintendent.
As Superintendent of the Monroe County Jail, plaintiff is a public official who must prove by evidentiary facts that defendant was motivated by actual malice or actual ill will (see, Sweeney v Prisoners' Legal Servs., 146 A.D.2d 1, 6; Harris v Alcan Aluminum Corp., 91 A.D.2d 830, 831, affd 58 N.Y.2d 1036). In our view, plaintiff has presented sufficient evidentiary proof from which a jury could infer that defendant published the news release with actual malice. The news release, which implied that plaintiff had committed numerous improprieties, was published prior to the completion of defendant's internal investigation, thus suggests reckless disregard. Furthermore, defendant's investigators possessed information which clearly indicated that plaintiff may not have had knowledge of the improprieties and that other persons were responsible; publication under these circumstances permits an inference of actual malice.