Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York November 5, 2001 (Gentile v. Allstate Insurance)

—In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for defamation, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Schmidt, J.), dated June 16, 2000, which denied his motion for leave to enter a judgment against the defendant upon its failure to appear or answer, and granted the defendant’s cross motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action.