Kartiganer Associates, P.C. v. Wehran Engineering, P.C.

• Decision Date: 21 March 1983
• Citation: Kartiganer Associates, P.C. v. Wehran Engineering, P.C., 460 N.Y.S.2d 124, 92 A.D.2d 911 (N.Y. App. Div. 1983)
• Parties: KARTIGANER ASSOCIATES, P.C., Appellant, v. WEHRAN ENGINEERING, P.C., et al., Respondents, et al., Defendant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 124

460 N.Y.S.2d 124

92 A.D.2d 911

KARTIGANER ASSOCIATES, P.C., Appellant, v. WEHRAN ENGINEERING, P.C., et al., Respondents, et al., Defendant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division Second Department.

March 21, 1983.

Moran, Spiegel, Palmer, Pergament & Brown, Poughkeepsie (Donald D. Brown, Jr., Poughkeepsie, of counsel), for appellant.

Owen & Grogan, Goshen (Thomas N. O'Hara, Goshen, of counsel), for respondents.

Before MOLLEN, P.J., and LAZER, WEINSTEIN and RUBIN, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

In a libel action, plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Orange County, dated May 25, 1982, which, inter alia, dismissed its complaint as against defendants Wehran Engineering, P.C. and William J. Stein.

Judgment affirmed, with costs.

As a defense to plaintiff's action for libel, the respondents asserted that plaintiff was collaterally estopped to deny that it was negligent in the design of a sewage treatment plant. The thrust of the allegedly libelous publication was that the treatment plant suffers from certain limitations caused by plaintiff's negligent design of the plant. Plaintiff had a full and fair opportunity to litigate that issue in a prior lawsuit brought against it by the municipality which contracted with plaintiff to perform design work on the plant (see Schwartz v. Public Administrator...