New York Court of Appeals, 1981

Kerwick v. Orange County Publications Division of Ottaway Newspapers, Inc.

New York Court of Appeals · Decided March 24, 1981

53 N.Y.2d 625; 7 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1152; 438 N.Y.S.2d 778; 420 N.E.2d 970; 1981 N.Y. LEXIS 2295

Cases that cite this one

5 later published cases cite this decision.

Guccione v. Hustler Magazine, Inc. (District Court, S.D. New York 1986)
Pollnow v. Poughkeepsie Newspapers, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1985)
Hogan v. Herald Co. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1982)
Kerwick v. ORANGE COUNTY PUBL'N DIV. OF OTTAWAY NEWSPAPERS, INC. (N.Y. 1981)
Di Lorenzo v. New York News, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1981)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs.

*627On the publisher’s motion for summary judgment it was not disputed that the editorial complained of was factually false. The publisher’s editor admitted in the course of his examination before trial that his conduct with respect to the factual material contained in the editorial did not “meet with the standards of [the] profession in information gathering and dissemination” as he understood them, in that there was “Reliance on memory rather than search of material, or original research”. This admission, unaccompanied by any explanation or justification, constituted evidentiary proof in admissible form showing facts sufficient to require a trial on the issue of malice. That a retraction was promptly published might be considered evidence of lack of malice in certain instances but would not be sufficient as a matter of law for that purpose.

Accordingly, it was-error to grant the motion for summary judgment.

Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer concur.

Order reversed, with costs, and defendant’s motion for summary judgment denied in a memorandum.

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