In a somewhat unusual departure from my typical blog posts, this one is about a cease-and-desist letter addressed to me personally. The letter (here, with selected exhibits and below), from Florida lawyer Casey Cummings of Florida law firm Kenner & Cummings PLLC, asserts that a blog post I published on June 3, 2014 is “defamatory”, asks me “kindly” to take…
Read More My Response to a Cease-and-Desist LetterNo one likes/wants to be sued. Process servers – people hired by attorneys to deliver litigation papers to a named defendant – are, therefore, not exactly “welcome” when they attempt to serve papers on a defendant. A recent case, Galtieri v. Uptown Communications & Electric, Inc. and Jonathan Smokler, Sup. Ct. Qns. Cty. 19589/2012, illustrates…
Read More Process Server’s Assault/Battery and False Imprisonment Claims ContinueBelow is the New York state court complaint, captioned Lindsay Lohan and Dina Lohan v. Fox News Network, LLC et al. (NY Sup. Ct. Index No. 150973/2015) filed on February 2, 2015 by Lindsay Lohan and her mom Dina Lohan, against (among others) Fox News Network, Michelle Fields, and Sean Hannity. Plaintiffs allege, among other things,…
Read More Lindsay/Dina Lohan “Cocaine” Defamation LawsuitBelow is the age and disability discrimination complaint, captioned Staropoli v. St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital and Debra Tompkins, 14 CV 3317, filed in the Southern District of New York on May 7, 2014. Plaintiff, who is 60 years old and suffers from Tourette Syndrome and Type II Diabetes, alleges, among other things, that “[b]y failing…
Read More Tourette Syndrome Discrimination LawsuitIn Catalanello v. Kramer (decided May 7, 2014), Southern District Judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed plaintiff Robert Catalanello’s complaint alleging defamation and false light invasion of privacy against law professor Zachary Kramer. Applying New Jersey law, the court held that the alleged defamatory statements (which were contained in Kramer’s law review article titled “Of Meat and Manhood” and…
Read More Court Dismisses Defamation and False Light/Privacy Claims Brought By Alleged Harasser Against Law ProfessorIn Frechtman v. Gutterman, the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the dismissal of a defamation claim brought by an attorney against his clients. Specifically, the court held that the complained-of-statements were non-actionable opinion, and were protected by absolute and qualified privileges. The facts: Plaintiff, A. Bernard Frechtman, a practicing attorney for more than 60 years,…
Read More Lawyer Sues Clients for Defamation, LosesA recent case, Cogle v. Bergstein (Supreme Court, New York County, decided Nov. 18, 2013) illustrates the pitfalls that exist when pleading defamation and discrimination claims in New York State courts. Plaintiff, a nurse, worked for the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation (HHC) at Bellevue Hospital. She alleged that she was suspended based on defamatory…
Read More Court Dismisses Plaintiff’s Defamation and Failure-to-Accommodate Disability Discrimination ClaimsPlaintiff Ese O’Diah, a black man from Nigeria, sued his former employer Roastown Coffee and its owner Doug Shin for employment discrimination (alleging that he was fired because of his race, color, and national origin) and defamation. Defendants claimed that plaintiff was fired for stealing money from the store cash register. The Southern District of…
Read More Plaintiff Gets to Jury on Discrimination and Defamation Claims, Notwithstanding Theft AllegationRemember Alexandra Marchuk? She’s the Vandy (!) Law grad who now finds herself as a defendant in a counter-suit (below) filed by defendants Faruqi & Faruqi and Juan Monteverde in response to the sexual harassment lawsuit she filed last month (which I wrote about here). In it defendants seek $15 million on each of six counterclaims, including…
Read More The Empire Strikes Back: Law Firm Files $15M Counterclaim Against Ex-Associate