Defamation JOHN BERKERY, SR. V. ESTATE OF LYLE STUART, ET. AL.
A-5105-07T1 02-19-10
In Berkery v. Kinney, 397 N.J. Super. 222 (App. Div. 2007),
certif. denied, 194 N.J. 445 (2008), the court held that plaintiff
failed to establish that statements made by a journalist and her
publisher in newspaper articles about plaintiff's involvement
with the K&A Gang and a book on the subject entitled Confessions
of a Second Story Man: Junior Kripplebauer and the K&A Gang were
made with actual malice.
On this appeal, the court addressed the application of the same
standards to the author and distributors of the same book and
conclude that the actual malice standard applies to the author
and distributors. We further conclude that plaintiff failed to
meet his burden on defendants' motion for summary judgment, and
the motion judge did not err in dismissing the complaint.
