Nat'l Puerto Rican Day Parade, Inc. v. Casa Publications, Inc.

• Decision Date: 21 December 2010
• Citation: 914 N.Y.S.2d 120,79 A.D.3d 592
• Parties: NATIONAL PUERTO RICAN DAY PARADE, INC., et al., Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. CASA PUBLICATIONS, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellants, John Doe "One," Defendant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

914 N.Y.S.2d 120
79 A.D.3d 592

NATIONAL PUERTO RICAN DAY PARADE, INC., et al., Plaintiffs-Respondents,
v.
CASA PUBLICATIONS, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellants,
John Doe "One," Defendant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.

Dec. 21, 2010.

914 N.Y.S.2d 121

Carlos J. Cuevas, Yonkers, for appellants.

Javier A. Solano, New York, for respondents.

SAXE, J.P., NARDELLI, RENWICK, RICHTER, JJ.

79 A.D.3d 592

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Wilma Guzman, J.), entered June 30, 2009, which insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, denied the cross motion of defendants Casa

79 A.D.3d 593

Publications, Inc., La Voz Hispana Newspaper, Inc., Ruben "Nick" Lugo, Joaquin Del Rio, Julio Garcia and Luis Martinez (collectively, Casa) to dismiss the complaint for failure to comply with CPLR 2101(b), and the motion of defendant Juan R. Feliciano (Feliciano) to dismiss the eleventh and thirteenth causes of action against him pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7), unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The instant action arises out of the publication of 19 allegedly libelous articles that appeared, over the course of 16 months, in the Spanish language weekly newspaper, La Voz Hispana, regarding the finances and operations of plaintiffs National Puerto Rican Day Parade, Inc. (NPRDP) and various named members of the Board of Directors. Plaintiffs also allege that Casa partly relied upon false and malicious information provided by Feliciano, a former NPRDP board member, and that in so doing Feliciano caused the libelous articles to be published.

Plaintiffs' verified complaint sets forth in English the allegedly defamatory words from each of the 19 articles. The actual Spanish language articles alleged to be libelous and two translator affidavits from a translation agency are attached as exhibits to the complaint. The signed translator affidavits state that the translators are qualified professional translators competent in both English and Spanish, and that the translations are an accurate and complete rendering of the content of the original document.

Casa sought dismissal of the complaint under CPLR 2101(b), arguing that plaintiffs failed to attach an English translation for each article in its entirety, and that the translator affidavits were insufficient because the affidavits were not signed contemporaneously with the verified complaint, because they did not include an

914 N.Y.S.2d 122

itemized list of the translators' qualifications, and because the translators' names were not printed below the signature line. Additionally, Feliciano sought to dismiss the eleventh and thirteenth causes of action, arguing that by merely providing information to Casa he did not cause the articles to be published. Plaintiffs submitted an attorney affidavit in opposition to Feliciano's motion to dismiss, stating that they...