Downtown Lawyer

In March 2006, two New York-area newspapers, the New York Daily News and the Polish Daily News, referred to Shemtov Michtavi as a “key lieutenant” of mob figure Ze’ev Rosenstein and reported that he planned to testify against Rosenstein. Michtavi is currently serving 20 years in prison for drug offenses. He filed a defamation claim against the newspapers, but they were dismissed by the trial court. On appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the court upheld the dismissal. The court noted that Michtavi failed to prove that the publications shamed him: “Under New York law, a statement is defamatory only if it would expose an individual to shame ‘in the minds of right-thinking persons.’” The court explained that, because right-thinking people would not “think ill” of someone who cooperates with police, the newspapers’ reports were not defamatory. For the full story, click here.