Attorney obtained a dismissal of a legal malpractice action arising out of complex litigation involving a condominium complex and its former Governing Board

Attorney obtained a dismissal of a legal malpractice action arising out of complex litigation involving a condominium complex and its former Governing Board. A 15 count class action Complaint had been filed. As a result, several newspaper articles appeared in local newspapers. In the legal malpractice suit, the attorney met with representatives of the community, and a transcript of the meeting was made. After the meeting, various residents signed a petition to remove certain members of the Board, and to appoint a receiver. At that point, the attorney filed a Verified Class Action Complaint to remove various Board Members. In addition, the attorney alleged that the President of the Board absconded with hundreds of thousands of dollars in Association funds. All of the Board Members named in the Complaint eventually resigned, and the new Board retained the attorney to continue representing the Association. Later, the former President filed an Answer and a Complaint against the attorney for defamation regarding statements the attorney made at the Association meeting concerning the actions of the former Board President. The attorney was successful in obtaining an Order dismissing the Complaint under New Jersey's one year statute of limitations for defamation actions, N.J.S.A. 2A:14-3.The attorney was able to demonstrate that the former Board President was aware of the Association meeting, and had knowledge of the comments that had been made about him. In addition, although the former Board President argued that he was not aware, and that the discovery rule should apply, the court agreed with our argument that the discovery rule does not apply to defamation actions, and since the former Board President's Complaint was not filed within one year of the Association meeting, it was barred under the statute of limitations for libel and slander actions in New Jersey.