Summary
ruling that statements in interoffice memorandum charging that attorney "has been most uncooperative, abrasive and dilatory in fulfilling his responsibilities in interacting with our customer, client's attorney, client and participating brokers" and further recommending that attorney not be retained in future were expressions of opinion regarding manner in which individual conducted himself and not actionable
Summary of this case from Hupp v. SasserOpinion
March 26, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Marbach, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, the motion is granted, and the complaint is dismissed.
The question of whether particular words are reasonably susceptible of a defamatory meaning is to be resolved by the court in the first instance (see, Aronson v Wiersma, 65 N.Y.2d 592, 593-594; James v Gannett Co., 40 N.Y.2d 415, 419-420). The words complained of must be construed in the context of the statement or publication as a whole and from the standpoint of the average reader (Aronson v Wiersma, supra, at 594; Udell v New York News, 124 A.D.2d 656). The statement in issue was contained in an interoffice memorandum from the defendant Peter Z. Zaborski, an employee of the defendant Coldwell Banker, Inc., to his superior, and charged that the plaintiff Michael M. Goldberg "has been most uncooperative, abrasive and dilatory in fulfilling his responsibilities in interacting with our customer [sic], client's attorney, client and participating brokers". Taken in context and viewed fairly, this statement may not be read as charging the plaintiff, an attorney, with professional incompetence (see, Van Lengen v Parr, 136 A.D.2d 964). Rather, the memorandum expresses dissatisfaction with the manner in which the plaintiff conducted himself in the context of one transaction and, as such, does not constitute libel per se (see, e.g., Noble v Creative Tech. Servs., 126 A.D.2d 611; Tufano v Schwartz, 95 A.D.2d 852; Beinin v Berk, 88 A.D.2d 884; Shaw v Consolidated Rail Corp., 74 A.D.2d 985). Furthermore, the statements in the memorandum which included language specifically recommending that the plaintiff not be retained or recommended in future transactions are, at worst, expressions of opinion and are afforded constitutional protection (see, Steinhilber v Alphonse, 68 N.Y.2d 283; Rinaldi v Holt, Rinehart Winston, 42 N.Y.2d 369, cert denied 434 U.S. 969). It is clear from the record that the recipient of the offending memorandum accepted the declarations contained therein as opinion rather than statements of fact.
In light of our determination, we do not address the questions of whether the statements complained of are subject to a qualified privilege and whether the communicant was motivated by malice. Thompson, J.P., Brown, Rubin and Eiber, JJ., concur.