JUDGMENT VACATED IN LAWSUIT AGAINST LOCAL INTERNET PUBLISHER 

A judgment of over $4 million against Carol McIlmurray, publisher of the Rockland Post website and former Rockland Times contributor, has been vacated by a state court due to lack of proper representation during the trial’s punitive hearing. McIlmurray and the Post had been sued for libel and defamation by Meredith Slutsky, girlfriend of former Montebello Mayor Jeffrey Oppenheim.

The Appellate Court agreed that McIlmurray’s lawyer had been absent due to the death of his wife and that nobody from his firm nor the defendant was present at the hearing. The case returns to court June 10 for reopening of punitive considerations.

The court had struck from the record all of McIlmurray’s answers to the plaintiff’s discovery questions because she did not answer questions she claimed were protected by journalistic privilege. Thus McIlmurray believes the entire trial had been unfair from the get go, blaming the political influence of Oppenheim. “The trial was full of accusatory misinformation done by plaintiffs to slander and malign my career. Dr. Jeffery Oppenheim never would have contributed his articles to the Rocklandpost if any of the allegations made by the courts jurist were true,” she claimed. “The court’s mishandling of this case was clear and present to any Rocklander who knew the political players. The Rockland Post upholds the veracity of our sources claims and will protect their identity due to the gross amount of power granted to Dr. Jeffery Oppenheim. The court mishandled this case from the very inception and that will all come to light as this charade of a case continues.”

On June 11, 2019, Slutsky’s attorney Michael Feldman warned the Rockland County Times against further coverage of the trial proceedings. Attached is the image of Feldman’s emails.