Oak Beach Inn Corp. v. Babylon Beacon, Inc.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Plaintiffs ran an advertisement in the defendant newspaper lamenting the failure of the Suffolk County Police Department to take action to protect the public from a dangerous curve on Montauk Highway. Defendants subsequently published a letter to the editor which accused plaintiffs of creating their own hazardous conditions by, inter alla, serving liquor to obviously intoxicated people, violating the fire code, blocking roads, and causing a parking problem. The name of the letter’s author was not published. Plaintiffs then commenced the instant defamation action, and…