Jerry Seinfeld’s lawyers urged a judge to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought against him cookbook author Missy Chase Lapine. Seinfeld claims he was exercising his First Amendment rights on the show, and that “any statements Lapine perceived to be derogatory were made while he was in comedian mode,”

“Nobody who was listening to Jerry Seinfeld thought he was doing anything but making very funny jokes,” attorney Orin Snyder told E! “Nobody believed him to be stating facts. Everyone understood him to be doing what he has done so well for so many years, which was telling jokes and entertaining. So the claim against him is frivolous and we have asked the court to dismiss it too.”

Not long ago Jerry Seinfeld was sued for slander among other things by Lapine who also claims that Jerry’s wife stole her idea for a children’s healthy eating cookbook. Missy Chase Lapine (“Lapine”) and The Sneaky Chef, Inc. filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Jerry Seinfeld and Jessica Seinfeld for copyright infringement, defamation, and trademark infringement.

Lapine, the author of “The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals,” accused Seinfeld’s wife of plagiarizing her cookbook. Jessica Seinfeld’s “Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food” . The publisher had previously rejected a book by Lapine but published a book by Seinfeld on the same subject. Jerry being the comedian that he is, had his next routine laid out like red carpet.

On a nationally televised David Letterman talk show appearance he called Ms. Lapine a wacko and a crackpot and compared her to the killers of John Lennon and Martin Luther King.(video below) On the Letterman show, Mr. Seinfeld did not refer to Ms. Lapine by name, but spoke of a “three-name woman” and said that “if you read history, many of the three-name people do become assassins.” Jerry has become quite the historian.

Jerry has moved to dismiss slander/defamation claim stating that it was “in jest” only and could not be taken seriously by anyone. If he is talking about Lindsay Lohan, he is making a good point but we are talking about a private individual’s cookbook. Jerry may be a comedian but when you take his comments in the overall light of the manner they were intended, a jury could easily find them defamatory. You can decide by viewing the video.

While it is not spelled out in the Constitution, one right private citizens have as compared to celebrities is the right not to be insulted on national television. There also appears to be a good argument that his comments were not part of a comedy routine but motivated by an intent to inflict emotional distress upon the plaintiff.

Ms. Lapine is not a public figure who are generally easy fodder for jokes as the standard for defamation is much higher. If it is Lindsay Lohan you can pretty much say anything you want about her as long you don’t accuse her of giving you and STD. (unless of course it’s true).

Moral of story? Make national television fodder of Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan all you want but leave happy home-maker alone.

Watch the video below and come to your own conclusions. Does she have a case?