Shinn v. Williamson
| Decision Date | 11 March 1996 |
| Citation | 225 A.D.2d 605,639 N.Y.S.2d 105 |
| Parties | Michael SHINN, Respondent, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Lisa WILLIAMSON, a/k/a "Sister Souljah", etc., Defendant, Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Cahill Gordon & Reindel, New York City (Thomas J. Kavaler, Jane M. Byrne, and Marvin S. Putnam, of counsel), and Gail I. Edwin, New York City, for appellant (one brief filed).
Larry Wallace, New York City, for respondent.
Before BALLETTA, J.P., and JOY, KRAUSMAN and FLORIO, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for defamation, the defendant Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., appeals from so much of (1) an order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (G. Aronin, J.), dated July 8, 1994, as denied that branch of its motion pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7) which was to dismiss the fifth cause of action insofar as asserted against it for failure to state a cause of action, and (2) an interlocutory judgment of the same court, as was entered December 2, 1994, upon the order.
ORDERED that the appellant is awarded one bill of costs.
The subject of this appeal is the fifth cause of action in the complaint brought by the plaintiff Michael Shinn against Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. (hereinafter Sony), to recover damages for libel. Shinn alleges that his reputation as a professional songwriter and producer in the music industry was harmed as a result of the publication by Sony of a jacket cover to a record album by rap artist Lisa Williamson, a/k/a "Sister Souljah", which referred to Shinn, along with two other unrelated named individuals, on an acknowledgment page as "Two-Faced Backstabbers".
The Supreme Court declined to dismiss the cause of action against Sony sounding in libel, holding that the challenged statement "Two-Faced Backstabber" was reasonably susceptible of a defamatory connotation, and thus that it was the jury's function to...
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