Judge Denies Spitzer Delay in Libel Case

Supreme Court Justice Francis Nicolai in Putnam County has refused to give New York City comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer a reprieve until after the Sept. 10 primary to respond to allegations in a defamation case initiated by ex-AIG chief Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. In Greenberg v. Spitzer, 1436/13, Nicolai directed Spitzer's attorney, Jay Ward Brown of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz in Washington, D.C., to respond by Aug. 30 to allegations that the former attorney general and governor defamed Greenberg in comments to the New York Law Journal and other media. Nicolai noted that Greenberg had already consented to extend the deadline to Aug. 30 from Aug. 19 and found no reason for a further extension.

Greenberg and Spitzer have been at loggerheads for eight years when the ex-attorney general brought a civil fraud action against the business titan. The Court of Appeals recently issued a decision allowing the case to go forward. Subsequently, Greenberg sued Spitzer in Putnam County (See Complaint), alleging Spitzer made inaccurate and defamatory remarks about him in an interview with the Law Journal, a subsequent televised interview on CNBC's "The Closing Bell With Maria Bartiromo" and in a new ebook.