The high ranking New York-based priest who was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenager by a church tribunal last year and defrocked is suing his accuser for defamation. Monsignor Charles Kavanagh, who formerly led St. Raymond's parish in the Bronx, and was the chief fund-raiser for the Archdiocese of New York, says that former seminary student Daniel Donohue repeatedly lied to reporters and changed his story around to extract a "monetary settlement from the New York Archdiocese." more ›

Our long national nightmare is over. Today a judge threw out a multi-million dollar defamation suit against Jerry Seinfeld in regards to statements he said about an author suing his wife over her "cookbook" Deceptively Delicious. So we're all clear: Jerry Seinfeld does not really think that the woman who claimed his wife was a plagiarist was an wacky assassin? Okay? more ›

A Queens insurance salesman is suing Random House for defamation because a sleazeball character in one its new publications is named after him. Douglas Heimowitz is angry that his name was appropriated for a professional gambler in Beth Raymer's recent book, Lay the Favorite, A Memoir of Gambling. "Our client is the only individual in the United States bearing the name Douglas Heimowitz," said lawyer Betty Tufariello. more ›

Six months after everyone forgot about the former cocktail waitress at the Penthouse Executive Club who was suing for sexual harassment, the club has hit back, vowing to file their own lawsuit for defamation over her "spurious allegations of sexual harassment." In February, Lourdes Garcia, 34, accused the owner of firing her after she repeatedly rebuffed the sexual of advances of both male and female managers. But she has since dropped that part of the lawsuit, fired her original lawyer, and is instead pressing forward with a class-action suit claiming that she and other workers weren't paid minimum wage or overtime. more ›

Does that headline make some of you trolls a tad concerned that the bridge is collapsing down on top of you? Because it is, so stop being so nasty! Okay, we're bluffing, but not completely: Six commenters on a website about Elizabeth, Pennsylvania could have their identities revealed within a month, after a judge ruled in favor of Township Supervisor Thomas DeRosa, who is trying to determine who defamed him on the site's online bulletin board. The ACLU had been fighting on behalf of the commenters, but recently decided not to appeal and has turned over their I.P. addresses. more ›

Last year Kecia Pitt sued the Nurturing Center, a Queens facility she’d entrusted with the care of her son. She claimed neglect, but now the daycare is fighting back accusing the disgruntled mom of defaming its good name by spreading flyers that satirically rename it "The Torturing Center." "Is your child often sick, have a lot of diaper rashes and cry out at night? Because they don't clean, change the babies or comfort them when they cry,” reads the copy. “The Nurturing Center is one of the WORST daycare centers I ever sent my son to." more ›

Last month a judge ordered Google to reveal the e-mail and IP address of the person behind the Skanks in NYC blog, a Blogger site (owned by Google) dedicated to trashing former model Liskula Cohen. Now, besides the blogger's lawsuit against Google for unmasking her, the company has to defend itself against yet another skank-inspired court filing. Holiday Image, a Queens company that creates Christmas displays, is suing Google to identify an impostor who sent a defamatory e-mail to its biggest client, the Gap. The lawsuit says someone opened a Gmail account under the name of Holiday Image's CEO, Matthew Schwam, and e-mailed Gap, badmouthing the retailer's employees as "airhead California people" who are "in they're [sic] own little world." The e-mail also said Holiday Image cheated Gap out of $100,000, and was being investigated by the IRS. It's unclear why an individual pretending to be Schwam would conclude the e-mail by writing, "There are other moral and un-criminal vendors out there. Explore your options!" But Holiday Image wants a preliminary injunction preventing Google from deleting any records related to the Gmail account, so that it can sue the e-mailer for defamation. more ›

You may have to suspend disbelief here, but we assure you this is real life; you didn't just wake up in a 1984 Ron Howard film. Somewhat recently there were multiple mermaid sightings off the coast of Kiryat Yam (near Haifa in Northern Israel) which prompted the town to offer up a $1 million reward for anyone who could prove the mythical creature exists. Once this news traveled all the way to New York, the Brooklyn-based Mermaid Medical Association got involved. (Also: there is a Mermaid Medical Association.) more ›

Earlier this week, a judge ordered Google to reveal the e-mail and IP address of the person behind the Skanks in NYC blog, which was dedicated to trashing former model Liskula Cohen. Cohen appeared on TV Wednesday, explaining that she knew the blogger socially while declining to reveal her name. But yesterday, after Cohen filed a $3 million defamation lawsuit against her nemesis, court papers at last revealed the blogger's identity: one Rosemary Port, an unemployed nightclub hostess, "promoter," and telemarketer. more ›

Regarding a lawsuit filed (PDF) by Anna Nicole Smith's former lover and lawyer Howard K. Stern, the New York Law Journal reports federal judge Denny Chin has ruled that "calling someone a homosexual would not be considered defamation per se." Stern sued TV journalist Rita Cosby, whose book, Blond Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death, claims that he and Larry Birkhead (the father of Smith's daughter) had engaged in sexual relations. Chin, who recently put Madoff behind bars) said, "Gay conduct is no longer a crime, and that gays and lesbians are no longer viewed as shameful or odious." This shift in thought, he commented, was because "of a veritable sea change in attitudes about homosexuality." However, Chin did allow 11 of the 19 alleged defamatory statements to go to trial, such as Cosby's claim that Smith had frequently watched sex tapes featuring Birkhead and Stern and that Stern pimped Smith out. [via Joe. My. God] more ›

State Senator Hiram Monserrate accused NOW's NY State chapter of being "willfully malicious and mean-spirited," the Daily Politics reports. Monserrate was referring to a NOW-NYS press release, which is protesting Monserrate's position of power amid allegations that he assaulted his girlfriend; NOW-NYS had stated, "It is inexplicable that our former Governor Spitzer was forced to resign for having sex with a prostitute while Senator Monserrate is allowed to continue in a leadership position. " Monserrate complains, "To compare a situation where both adults insist an accident occurred, to Mr. Spitzer and a young lady who admitted to committing a crime, is to utter a statement maliciously," noting that NOW-NYS never contacted him or his girlfriend. The Daily Politics says (per a source) that Monserrate may consider a defamation suit against NOW-NYS, whose president Marcia Pappas says, "If Mr. Monserrate would go to this extreme to prevent my group from speaking out, what other extremes would Mr. Monserrate go to in other areas of his life?" more ›

The New York Supreme Court has ruled that Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. must submit to a deposition by attorneys representing Donald Trump, who is suing Times business editor Timothy O'Brien and the publishers of O'Brien's book TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald. Trump is seeking $5 billion in damages because he says the book grossly underestimated his net worth at $150 million to $250 million, instead of the billions and billions he claims. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Trump contends that being labeled a mere millionaire hurt his "brand and reputation" and undermined the "perception of Trump as a businessman of extraordinary means and ability (which he is)." more ›

Debbie Almontaser was publicly drummed out of her job as the founder and principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, but she is now the one on the receiving end of a defamation lawsuit filed by members of an organization who attempted to prevent the dual-language school from opening. Sara Springer, Irene Alter and Pamela Hall are members of a group called the Stop the Madrassa Coalition. They're alleging that they were defamed by Almontaser, who said that critics of the school were stalking her.

Rabbi Michael Feinberg, a member of Communities in Support of KGIA, a group devoted to having Ms. Almontaser reinstated as the school principal, said: “They picked this whole fight from Day 1. I don’t know if they stalked her or not. But they have been absolutely relentless in the campaign of lies, distortions and calumny to shut down the school and have Debbie step down as principal.”

Roger Clemens issued another statement, in the wake of McCready-gate, admitting some mistakes but denying his affair with country singer Mindy McCready started when she was 15. Clemens told the Houston Chronicle:

"I know that many people want to know what I have to say about the recent articles in the media. Even though these articles contain many false accusations and mistakes, I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry. I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans. Like everyone, I have flaws. I have sometimes made choices which have not been right."