Pezhman v. Chanel

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Shlom'o Hagler, J.), entered November 22, 2016, which, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

The allegedly defamatory statements of defendant law firm and its attorneys were made in the course of the firm’s representation of defendant Chanel in a prior action and are therefore protected by the absolute privilege attaching to statements made in the course of, and relating to, judicial proceedings (see Sexter & Warmflash, P.C. v Margrabe, 38 AD3d 163 , 171 [1st Dept 2007], abrogated on other grounds Front, Inc. v Khalil, 24 NY3d 713 [2015]). Because the challenged statements were “pertinent” to the proceeding in which they were made (see Sexter, 38 AD3d at 173 ), they are absolutely privileged. Nor is this a case like Halperin v Salvan ( 117 AD2d 544 , 548 [1st Dept 1986]), in which “the underlying lawsuit was a sham action brought solely to defame the defendant” (Flomenhaft v Finkelstein, 127 AD3d 634 , 638 [1st Dept 2015], citing e.g. Casa de Meadows Inc. [Cayman Is.] v Zaman, 76 AD3d 917 , 920 [1st Dept 2010]; Sexter, 38 AD3d at 172 and n 5).

We have considered plaintiff’s remaining arguments and find them unavailing.

Concur—Manzanet-Daniels, J.P., Maz-zarelli, Andrias, Gesmer and Oing, JJ.