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VIVIENE SMITH, plf-ap, v. MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER def-res

12250. VIVIENE SMITH, plf-ap, v. MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER def-res — Wolf & Wolf, LLP, Bronx (Jason M. Wolf of counsel), for ap — Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP, New York (Richard M. Reice of counsel), for res — Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lucindo Suarez, J.), entered April 9, 2013, which, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff's cause of action alleging libel, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

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12250. VIVIENE SMITH, plf-ap, v. MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER def-res — Wolf & Wolf, LLP, Bronx (Jason M. Wolf of counsel), for ap — Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP, New York (Richard M. Reice of counsel), for res — Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Lucindo Suarez, J.), entered April 9, 2013, which, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s cause of action alleging libel, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff’s cause of action for libel arises out of the statements made by defendant Alma Wilson, in a report to her supervisor, wherein Wilson claimed to have witnessed plaintiff verbally and physically abuse an elderly patient. It is undisputed that the statements are protected by a qualified privilege. However, plaintiff may defeat this defense by demonstrating that defendant was motivated by malice (see Foster v. Churchill, 87 NY2d 744, 751-752 [1996]; Liberman v. Gelstein, 80 NY2d 429 [1992]). While an allegation of falsity is insufficient to create an inference of malice (see Stukuls v. State of New York, 42 NY2d 272, 279 [1977]), malice may be inferred “from a statement that is so extravagant in its denunciations or so vituperative in its character as to warrant an inference of malice” (Herlihy v. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 214 AD2d 250, 260 [1st Dept 1995] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]).

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