by DAREH GREGORIAN
A judge has tossed a lawsuit by a photographer who claimed he was defamed when The Post revealed he had been misrepresenting himself as the fire union's "official photographer" at Ground Zero and stiffing a 9/11 charity he had pledged to support.
The Post ran several stories on Gary Suson in 2005 showing the FDNY's Uniformed Firefighter's Association wanted him to "cease and desist" his claim of being their "official photographer."
The stories also revealed that Suson had given only a few hundred dollars to the union's widows and orphans fund, even though he had raked in more than $61,000 for pictures he took at Ground Zero and had pledged to give money he got from those photos to the charity.
In a decision made public yesterday, Manhattan Civil Court Judge Shlomo Hagler found 14 statements Suson had claimed libeled him weren't defamatory - because they were accurate.
"Substantial truth is . . . a defense to a libel claim," Hagler wrote.
Hagler also took aim at Suson's allegations of sloppy journalism.
"The reporters, who have a wealth of experience in journalism, meticulously documented their extensive investigation and provided a reliable source of information for each of the 14 alleged defamatory statements," the judge found.
Suson's lawyer, Jared Lefkowitz, declined comment.
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