Opinion
No. 57.
March 12, 2009.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Helen E. Freedman, J.), entered January 2, 2008, which granted defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously affirmed, with costs.
Stevens Lee, P.C., New York (Chester B. Salomon of counsel), for appellants.
Butzel Long, P.C., New York (Martin E. Karlinsky of counsel), for Casita, L.P., respondent.
Gibson, Dunn Crutcher LLP, New York (Mitchell A. Karlan of counsel), for Eagle Advisors, Inc., David Alexander and Ekkehart Hassels-Weiler, respondents.
Before: Andrias, J.P., Saxe, Acosta and Renwick, JJ.
This action, filed approximately 20 months after the publication of the allegedly defamatory statements, is barred by the one-year statute of limitations (CPLR 215), and there was no basis for tolling the statute ( see Shared Communications Servs. of ESR, Inc. v Goldman, Sachs Co., 38 AD3d 325). In any event, these statements were either privileged under Civil Rights Law § 74 ( see Freeze Right Re frig. A.C. Servs. v City of New York, 101 AD2d 175), subject to a qualified privilege ( see Foster v Churchill, 87 NY2d 744, 751), protected as pure opinion ( see Milkovich v Lorain Journal Co., 497 US 1, 17-21), or not pleaded with sufficient particularity ( see Murganti v Weber, 248 AD2d 208).
[ See 2007 NY Slip Op 34257(U).]