Take My Mother-in-Law, Please! (Lawsuit vs Comic Tossed)

September 8th, 2010. By janem

 

Well, comedian Sunda Croonquist likely had the last laugh—all the way to the bank! She’s almost a household name these days after being sued by her in-laws for spreading “false, defamatory and racist lies” (see the video above to make your own opinion). I’d never heard of her before Ruth Zafrin, the mother-in-law, demanded a cash settlement for her “pain and suffering.” Anyway, U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper threw the suit out of New Jersey’s U.S. District Court April 30^th.

Croonquist alleged that Zafrin joined the action just to keep the issue out of Federal Court (where it landed because Croonquist lives in California and her in-laws live in New York and New Jersey). The stated causes of action included: false light, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and unjust enrichment.

Her sister-in-law, Shelley Edelman, and her husband Neil (the brother of Croonquist’s husband, Mark Zafrin) were first to sue over the comedian’s schtick—which revolves around jokes about their heritage and her own–claiming Shelley is a racist. ( In her New Jersey accent: “Oh my God, Neil, look at her. She’s got light eyes and light hair, what kind of black person is she?”) And, “My sister-in-law’s voice sounds like a cat in heat.” (Croonquist is half African-American and half Swedish.)

Fortunately for Croonquist, Judge Mary Cooper had a better sense of humor than the in-laws and found the cat in heat comment to be “mere colorful, figurative rhetoric that reasonable minds would not take to be factual”. Cooper held that Croonquist’s jokes are statements of opinion and not fact; neither were they defamatory nor false-light depictions and therefore protected by the First Amendment, which ensures freedom of speech.

Regarding the emotional injury claims, the decision is consistent with libel and First Amendment law. The judge ruled that “New Jersey courts do not permit claims for the infliction of emotional distress to proceed when the factual basis for the claim is non-actionable alleged defamation…New York courts have recognized that accusing someone of being racist, ‘while highly objectionable, is neither sufficiently extreme nor outrageous to support a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

“Croonquist knew or should have known her statements could have a devastating impact upon the Edelmans,” the lawsuit said. Ironically, she was defended by Mark Zafrin’s law firm; that’s bound to cause a little tension in the family–unless the whole thing was a planned publicity stunt of course…

Here’s another Croonquist line: “When I met my mother-in-law for the first time, I realized that Jews can’t whisper, ’cause I met her and I said, ‘It’s such a pleasure meeting you,’ and she said, ‘Have a seat, Eliot put my pocketbook away.'”

It makes you wonder how comedians such as Henny Youngman (king of one-liners who coined the line, “Take my wife. Please.”) avoided a lawsuit. Remember the Rev. Jerry Falwell case back in the 1980s? Falwell lost when he sued Hustler magazine for stating in an ad parody that the preacher had lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse. Let’s not forget the ire of the local police over Lenny Bruce’s language in the 1950s and ’60s; George Carlin’s “seven dirty words” stand-up routine that turned into a landmark 1978 Supreme Court case; and the post-9/11 uproar over Bill Maher’s wise-guy cracks about terrorists and courage. And more recently, the case of two “South Park” television episodes that attempted to feature the Prophet Muhammad, which attracted death threats (even though Muhammad can’t sue!)

“Suing a comedian is often difficult because courts tend to rule that it should be obvious they are joking,” said Gary L. Bostwick, attorney and First Amendment law expert.

Meanwhile, we’ll probably see a lot more of Croonquist—maybe on Letterman, a judge on the next reality show; a Grammy Awards host…In the end, opinions are protected by the First Amendment and that protects not only comedians, but just about anyone with an opinion, including bloggers.

Tags: comedian lawsuit, Sunda Croonquist

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