Allegations of malice, without evidentiary support, by a fired employee in a defamation lawsuit overcame the common-interest privilege raised as a defense by his former employer at the motion to dismiss stage, a state appeals court has ruled.
The suit by J. Mark Ferrara, a former chief loan officer at Esquire Bank in Suffolk County, should survive the dismissal motion because “the amended complaint sufficiently alleges malice,” ruled an Appellate Division, Second Department, panel in Ferrara v. Esquire Bank, 4883/15.
