Hawkins v. Harris
New Jersey Supreme Court
141 N.J. 207, 661 A.2d 284 (1995)
- Written by Sharon Feldman, JD
Facts
Linda Hawkins (plaintiff) was injured in two car accidents. Hawkins sued the responsible motorists. The suits were tried and settled. Thereafter, Hawkins sued the motorists’ insurers and the insurers’ lawyers and investigators (defendants), alleging in part that the investigators had defamed her by asking an attendant at Hawkins’s health club how long the attendant had been having an affair with Hawkins, informing Hawkins’s minister that Hawkins and her husband were committing insurance fraud, and asking Hawkins’s housekeeper how much money Hawkins was paying her to lie. The trial court dismissed Hawkins’s defamation claim against the investigators. The appellate division affirmed. Hawkins appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (O’Hern, J.)
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