In Rubin v. Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik, LLP, 2017 NY Slip Op 05054 (App. Div. 1st Dept. June 20, 2017) – a gender discrimination lawsuit – the court unanimously affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion to amend his answer to assert counterclaims for defamation and defamation per se.
From the decision:
[D]efendant fails to state with particularity the allegedly defamatory statements, and therefore his fourth and fifth counterclaims are defective as a matter of law[]. To the extent that defendant’s counterclaim sets forth some of the words complained of, they consist largely of verbatim quotations from the complaint, and thus are absolutely privileged and cannot form the basis of a defamation action.