Oak Beach Inn Corp. et al., Appellants, v. Babylon Beacon, Inc., Doing Business as Babylon Beacon Newspaper, et al., Respondents, 62 N.Y.2d 158

Summary

The intermediate court reversed an order that precluded defendant newspaper from asserting a defense in plaintiff inn's libel suit unless it disclosed the identity of the author of an allegedly libelous letter to the editor. The court affirmed that order on appeal, reasoning that there was no need for the trial court to subject defendant to a default or summary judgment on the libel complaint by striking their answer. The court held that other remedies were available under N.Y. C.P.L.R. 3126 to address the deprivation of evidence that was relevant to the issue of malice. The court further determined that those remedies were inapplicable to the extent that the disclosure of the letter writer's identity was sought in order to commence a suit against the author because that request had no bearing on the action against defendant and because the basic policy of N.Y. Civ. Rights Law § 79-h would have been undermined if N.Y. C.P.L.R. 3126 was not strictly read to protect defendant under the ...