Noel v. Interboro Mutual Indemnity Insurance

In filing his note of issue below the plaintiff designated his second cause of action as a “ Prima facie tort of business interference.” In denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss such cause as barred by the one-year Statute of Limitations applicable to defamation actions, Special Term gave its sanction to this designation, holding that the action sounded in prima facie tort and that the six-year statute applied.

On this appeal the plaintiff while withdrawing the denomination ‘ ‘ prima facie tort ’ ’ to the second cause of action, and although decrying the constrictive effect of labels in…