Lawyer Faces Slander Suit Over Letter to Court

Lawyer Faces Slander Suit Over Letter to Court
The New York Law Journal by Mark Fass - April 22, 2008

A Legal Services attorney facing a slander suit over a letter he wrote requesting that the city's Housing Authority delay a case because of a party's mental illness and incapacity cannot claim the judicial-proceedings privilege defense, as the letter was written merely as a "friend of the court," a Manhattan judge has ruled. After learning of the letter, plaintiff John E. McBride filed the present slander suit. Defendant Brent Meltzer, a senior staff attorney at South Brooklyn Legal Services, moved to dismiss, citing the absolute privilege given to statements made in judicial proceedings.

Manhattan Civil Court Judge Cynthia S. Kern denied Mr. Meltzer's motion, ruling that because he did not represent Mr. McBride in the Housing Court action the privilege did not attach. "In the letter, Meltzer clearly states that he is not presently representing plaintiff in the Housing Court proceeding and that he is writing the letter 'as a friend of the court,'" Judge Kern wrote in McBride v. South Brooklyn Legal Services, 062764/07. "Thus, Meltzer was not plaintiff's attorney, a party, witness, judge or juror in the Housing Court proceeding."