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Extracted Text (OCR)
Case 18-2868, Document 276, 08/09/2019, 2628224, Page35 of 77
criminal prosecutions of (and civil lawsuits against) wealthy and prominent men around the
world—to draw an obvious inference that plaintiff was (more) truthful in the 2011 articles and
engaged in massive manufacturing of fiction in the 2014 joinder motion. There is no limit to the
subject matters on which pure opinions may be expressed with constitutional immunity,
including whether a person believes another is “lying” or is a “liar.” See, e.g., Indep. Living Aids,
Inc. v. Maxi-Aids, Inc., 981 F. Supp. 124, 128 (E.D.N.Y. 1997) (granting summary judgment:
“Read in the context of the entire article, Zaretsky’s remarks, calling Sandler and others ‘liars,’
can only be understood as a denial of their accusations. . . . Even the most careless reader must
have perceived that the words were no more than rhetorical hyperbole, a vigorous epithet used by
Zaretsky who considered himself unfairly treated and sought to bring what he alleged were the
true facts to the readers. The epithet ‘liar’ in this context, standing by itself, merely expressed the
opinion that anyone who persisted in accusing Zaretsky of improper business practices could not
be telling the truth. Since the basis for this opinion was fully set forth, the communication of
Zaretsky’s views cannot be libelous.”) (citations, ellipsis, brackets and internal quotations
omitted); see Gross v. New York Times, 623 N.E.2d 1163, 1169 (N.Y. 1993) (“[E]ven when
uttered or published ina... serious tone, accusations of criminality could be regarded as mere
hypothesis and therefore not actionable if the facts on which they are based are fully and
accurately set forth and it is clear to the reasonable reader . . . that the accusation is merely a
personal surmise built upon those facts. In all cases, whether the challenged remark concerns
criminality or some other defamatory category, the courts are obliged to consider the
communication as a whole, as well as its immediate and broader social contexts, to determine
whether the reasonable listener . . . is likely to understand the remark as an assertion of provable
fact.”’).
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Extracted Information
Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DocumentCloud_Epstein_Docs_p00084.png |
| File Size | 290.8 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.6% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,166 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-04 12:22:28.707500 |