Defamation Action Based On Judicial Complaint Dismissed

A defamation action brought by a judge in response to a complaint filed with the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct has been dismissed  by the New York Supreme Court for Dutchess County 

The events giving rise to this action commenced on December 28, 2021. That day, Plaintiff, a Judge of the Poughkeepsie City Court, brought his son to an ophthalmology office where a dispute arose between Plaintiff and the office manager, Defendant, regarding Plaintiffs unwillingness to wear a face mask while in the office. The following day, December 29, 2021, Defendant wrote certain “statements concerning [Plaintiff… to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct” (Complaint at “Preliminary Statement”). The written statements were submitted via a complaint form provided by the New York State Office [sic] of Judicial Conduct” (id. at 24).

Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s statements were false, libelous, professionally damaging to him as a jurist and calculated to subject him to personal ridicule and shame (id. at 23-24). Plaintiff further alleges that Defendant’s statements caused him “emotional distress, humiliation, shame and embarrassment and required him to answer [Defendant’s] false claims before a state commission designed and empowered to investigate judicial misconduct” (id. at 27). As a result of these events, plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages of $425,000.00 on a single  cause of action for defamation per se.

The statements were made solely to the commission and were only published when the plaintiff sued.

Given that the subject-matter of this lawsuit squarely falls within the precedent of Wiener v. ‘Weintraub and its progeny, and that Plaintiff has not furnished ,any “substantial argument” or precedent which warrant consideration of “an extension, modification or reversal of existing law” (CPLR 3211Ig][1]), Defendant’s statements must be deemed absolutely privileged and the complaint must be dismissed. 

The commission had intervened on behalf of the defendant in the litigation. (Mike Frisch)