Designs

The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department affirmed the dismissal of a suit brought against Vanity Fair.

Plaintiff failed to state a cause of action for defamation based on allegedly false and disparaging statements in an article published in the September 2010 issue of Vanity Fair (“Cassini Royale”) that reports on plaintiff’s secret marriage to the late designer, Oleg Cassini, and her conduct in litigation concerning his estate. Contrary to plaintiff’s contention, the allegedly defamatory statements, including a quoted statement that plaintiff and her sisters used to throw parties in the 1960s that were attended by many wealthy “older guys looking for action,” do not imply that plaintiff was a prostitute and lacked sexual morals. Given the overall context in which the statements were made, a reasonable reader would not conclude that plaintiff was a prostitute or otherwise unchaste. Nor were the statements so “extreme and outrageous” that they would support an action for infliction of emotional distress (citations omitted).

(Mike Frisch)