Defamation Claim by Former Co-op President Can Proceed
New York Law Journal
Ben Bedell
01 September 2015
Trump Village Co-op building at 2940-42-44 5th St., Coney Island
A former co-op board president may go forward with his defamation claim
against a group of co-op shareholders who publish a website critical of
him, a Brooklyn judge has ruled.
Justice Mark Partnow said in Trump Village Section 4 v. Bezvoleva,
509277/2014, that neither the common interest privilege nor the public
figure doctrine protected allegedly defamatory statements made on
TV4News.org about Igor Oberman and the board of Trump Village 4, a
1,100-unit complex in Coney Island.
The purpose of the common interest privilege, Partnow said, is to
promote "the flow of information between persons sharing a common
interest."
But the website was not limited to Trump Village residents; it is
available generally on the Internet and is not password protected. As a
result, it cannot be considered communication with people sharing a
common interest, Partnow reasoned in his Aug. 10 opinion.
Partnow noted that a Google search of "Igor Oberman" puts TV4News.org
near the top of a list of tens of thousands of search results.
"The shield provided by the common interest privilege is dissolved
where the defendants disseminate the statements in a manner which
exceeds the scope of this privilege or constitutes 'excessive
publication,'" Partnow said, citing Stukuls v. State of New York, 42
NY2d 272, 281 (1977) and Skarren v. Household Fin. Corp., 296 AD2d
488,489-490 (2d Dept 2002).
The defendants argued that Oberman and the other board members were
"limited public figures" and therefore, absent a showing of malice, a
libel claim could not be maintained.
Oberman ran for City Council in 2013, finishing with 5 percent of the vote in a four-way race.
But Partnow found that "the matters at issue cannot be said to be
matters of a controversy affecting the public." And since Oberman and
the other board members did not "voluntarily thrust themselves into a
public controversy or seek any public attention with respect to any
public controversy" they are not limited public figures, he held.
The defendants, two named co-op owners and two anonymous commenters on
the website identified as "Joseph Stalin" and "Aborigen," argued that
the site, launched in 2012, "is plainly presented as an informal forum
for the exchange of opinions by TV4 residents."
Oberman and the other plaintiffs said the website had defamed them with
statements that could not be construed by an average reader as mere
opinion.
The defendants "used specific, easily understood language to
communicate that, among other things, Oberman and Trump Village filed
frivolous cases against shareholders for opposing his views, that Trump
Village's elections have not been held fairly, that Oberman manipulated
the elections and the election results were fabricated, and that
Oberman is spending corporate monies for his own personal purposes,"
Partnow noted.
A "reasonable reader" would be inclined to discount the credibility of
statements by virtue of the fact they are disseminated on the Internet,
Partnow said. But "Internet postings are not exempt from being libelous
where they do not constitute opinion, particularly where, as here, they
imply that they are based upon undisclosed facts," he said.
"Furthermore, the alleged defamatory statements were made on a website
which purports to represent and be knowledgeable about the Trump
Village community," he continued.
Daniel Szalkiewicz, of Daniel Szalkiewicz & Associates, who
represented the plaintiffs, said the ruling was "an important precedent
in the growing field of Internet defamation jurisprudence. It stands
for the proposition that the common interest privilege is obliterated
when you publish a website for all the world to see."
The defendants were represented pro bono by Weil Gotshal & Manges,
with partner James Quinn and associates Elizabeth Hendee and Justin
Bart arguing the case. Quinn said his clients would appeal.
Oberman, a graduate of New York Law School who was admitted in 1998,
had recently stepped down as co-op president and is now an attorney in
private practice focusing mostly on real estate issues, Szalkiewicz
said.
Built in the 1960s by Fred Trump—whose son is now seeking the
Republican presidential nomination—the two-building co-op was operated
as subsidized middle-income housing under the Mitchell-Lama program
until 1997.
Trump Village Section 4 no longer has any connection to the Trump real
estate companies and is a market-rate complex where units sell for an
average price of $360,000, according to the Streeteasy website.
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