Rockland Teacher Wins $4 Million Award In Cyber-Bullying Case

A Clarkstown teacher won a cyber-bullying case against a local blogger, and a Rockland County jury on Friday awarded her $4 million in compensatory and punitive damages for libelous defamation. The trial in New York state Supreme Court accused Carol Mcilmurray of bullying her for more than 6 months in 2017 with a series of malicious and fictitious online articles published in the Rockland Post.

Meredith Trussell-Slutsky is a longtime elementary school teacher, mother of two, and community volunteer. Attorney Michael S. Feldman, who represented her, told the jury in his opening statement that after "vile" statements intended to defame Trussell-Slutsky were published on the internet his client was exposed to humiliation, anguish and suffering.

“This case is about the defendant’s reckless disregard for the truth and lack of concern about harming innocent people by publishing false accusations," he said. "The defendants’ motivation was of the worst kind because she tried to profit by intentionally harming Meredith’s good reputation. We sued to make a statement that journalists and publishers must be held accountable for their actions. The Rockland county jury awarded 4 million dollars because they wanted to send a clear message that the story was false and they wanted to vindicate Meredith’s reputation.”

The jury awarded her $500,000 in compensatory, and $3.5 million in punitive damages for libelous defamation.

Trussell-Slutsky, who has been active in anti-bullying programs in the Clarkstown schools, said in a press release that she was deeply grateful to the six members of the Rockland jury. "They listened to the facts and decided to award a large amount of money to tell these defendants, and bullies in general, that this type of malevolence is not acceptable in our community.”

PHOTO: Michael Feldman/ Finkelstein & Partners, LLP

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