Case ID: ad2d_292/html/0234-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Lloyd Martinson et al., Appellants, v Joshua Blau, C.P.A., Respondent.
    [738 NYS2d 572]
   Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Jane Solomon, J.), entered on or about November 22, 2000, which granted defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

Plaintiffs’ claims for professional malpractice, breach of contract and prima facie tort, premised on the allegation that defendant gave false testimony in a New Jersey action, were properly dismissed, since “[a] witness at a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding enjoys an absolute privilege with respect to his or her testimony” (see, Pfeiffer v Hoffman, 251 AD2d 94, 95). Although there is an exception to this privilege where the testimony is part of a larger scheme to defraud (see, Newin Corp. v Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co., 37 NY2d 211, 217), plaintiffs have not alleged facts from which a larger fraudulent design may be inferred. Concur — Mazzarelli, J.P., Andrias, Sullivan, Buckley and Marlow, JJ.