In Scott v. Statesville Plywood and Veneer Co., Inc., 240 N.C. 73, 81 S.E.2d 146 (1954), the Supreme Court of North Carolina stated: While statements in pleadings and other papers filed in a judicial proceeding are not privileged if they are not relevant or pertinent to the subject matter of the action, the question of relevancy or pertinency is a question of law for the courts, and the matter to which the privilege does not extend must be so palpably irrelevant to the subject matter of the controversy that no reasonable man can doubt its irrelevancy or impropriety. If it is so related to the subject matter of the controversy that it may become the subject of inquiry in the course of the trial, the rule of absolute privilege is controlling. Scott, 240 N.C. at 76, 81 S.E.2d at 149.