Partner Dennis Wade and associate Alison Weintraub received a complete pre-answer dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint in the case of Roth v. Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP, a defamation action brought in New York City Civil Court.  Roth, a former partner at Tarter Krinsky alleged that certain partners at his prior firm made defamatory and slanderous remarks causing harm to his business reputation.  The complaint, however, lacked the specificity required by the CPLR for a defamation action and we therefore argued that it should be dismissed.  In addition, we argued that the allegedly defamatory statements were protected by a common interest privilege, as any comments were made between attorneys within the law firm.  The court agreed both on specificity and privilege grounds and granted the motion to dismiss, while simultaneously denying Roth’s cross-motion request to replead.