Aperuta v. Pirrello

The opinion of the court was delivered by

WINKELSTEIN, J.A.D.

Defendant, Louis Pirrello, was a Morris Township Police Officer. Plaintiff, Imma Aperuta, sued him and the Township for defamation after he told a third party that plaintiff may have AIDS. Plaintiff alleged, among other things, that Pirrello was acting in the course of his employment at the time he made the statement. The Township declined to provide Pirrello with a defense to plaintiffs complaint on the grounds that when he made the remark, he was off duty and not “acting in [his] professional capacity within the course and scope of…