Strujan v Kaufman & Kahn, LLP 2019 NY Slip Op 00630 [168 AD3d 1114] January 30, 2019 Appellate Division, Second Department is the end of the line for this case, and going forward Plaintiff must ask permission to file papers.

“Since the defendants represented the plaintiff’s adversaries in a prior action, the causes of action alleging legal malpractice and negligence are unsupported by any duty running from the defendants to the plaintiff (see Betz v Blatt, 160 AD3d 696, 698 [2018]; Betz v Blatt, 116 AD3d 813, 815 [2014]; Gorbatov v Tsirelman, 155 AD3d 836, 840 [2017]; DeMartino v Golden, 150 AD3d 1200, 1201 [2017]; Pasternack v Laboratory Corp. of Am. Holdings, 27 NY3d 817, 825 [2016]).

The plaintiff’s allegations of “intentional harm,” which the Supreme Court properly interpreted as stating a cause of action alleging prima facie tort, were unsupported by facts demonstrating that the defendants acted with “malicious intent or disinterested malevolence” in the prior action (Ahmed Elkoulily, M.D., P.C. v New York State Catholic Healthplan, Inc., 153 AD3d 768, 772 [2017]; see Dorce v Gluck, 140 AD3d 1111, 1112 [2016]; Wiggins & Kopko, LLP v Masson, 116 AD3d 1130, 1131 [2014]; Smallwood v Lupoli, 107 AD3d 782, 785 [2013]; Lisi v Kanca, 105 AD3d 714 [2013]; Shields v Carbone, 78 AD3d 1440, 1442-1443 [2010]). Likewise, the allegations of defamation failed to state a cause of action. The law provides absolute immunity from liability for defamation based on oral or written statements made by attorneys in connection with a proceeding before a court “ ’when such words and writings are material and pertinent to the questions involved’ ” (Front, Inc. v Khalil, 24 NY3d 713, 718 [2015], quoting Youmans v Smith, 153 NY 214, 219 [1897]; see Weinstock v Sanders, 144 AD3d 1019, 1020 [2016]; see also Stega v New York Downtown Hosp., 31 NY3d 661 [2018]).

The plaintiff’s remaining causes of action are not recognized in New York or are inadequately pleaded (see Chanko v American Broadcasting Cos. Inc., 27 NY3d 46, 56 [2016]; Scialdone v Stepping Stones Assoc., L.P., 148 AD3d 953, 954-955 [2017]; Klein v Metropolitan Child Servs., Inc., 100 AD3d 708, 711 [2012]; 42 USC § 1983; CPLR art 14-A).”