General question about false accusation

[footballdad]

I was at one time falsely accused of child abuse.  The case was accordingly dismissed by the prosecutor.

Another party, in another custody action, keeps bringing it up.  They've made statements in court that I committed the abuse (not alleging, but stating it as fact.)  Do I have any sort of recourse, such as filing a defamation suit against them? 

[Davy]

I am not an attorney and I know of no one that post here that is an attorney. 

I believe that a defamation of character suit one has to show harm.   It might be easier to show emotional/mental abuse.  It should be easy to counter and disprove the accusation (as fact) in a court hearing and show the accuser true colors atempting to gain favortism with the court and if you're pro se you can always add something like "your honor I beleive recent psychological studies depict that those that make false accussations of abuse are often or more likely to be abusers themselves" (I think that is true).

I believe you will find valuable information in the articles section on this site.  This information has been presented/gathered by those that have BTDT and authenicated by SPARC.   

[gemini3]

Unless you have some way to prove that they are lying there is really nothing you can do about it, except say that it's not true and ask them to provide evidence. 

Are you pro se or do you have an attorney?

[ocean]

Object in court to prove it or provide the dismissal paperwork as proof... If they dont know first hand, then it is hearsay and should be thrown out...

[Davy]

This is a difficult but not really.  It is not up to the falsely accused to spend time and money to try to disprove a false negative.  Any attempt to do so may result in more false accusations and expense arguing 'what ifs' all the while running up attorneys fees, etc.

The COURT must demand something other than the false accuser running off at the mouth.
Having an attorney present to inflict some pain on the accuser should remedy the situation in the court room.   If the attorney is not doing the job (should have been covered before  retained) then get another attorney.  If the attorney is doing the job then attack the accuser and the court.

[footballdad]

I'm not a party to the case in question.  My concern is just that false statements are being made about me.  A judge ordered that children not be allowed around me, based upon the false allegation.

In a defamation suit, the defendant typically has to prove that what they said was true, not the other way around.  Does the same thing apply to something they said in court?

In other words, if they made libelous statements about me in court, is this the same as if they'd published libelous statements about me in the newspaper or on the internet?

[ocean]

You should give the proof to the person that this case is with and have them prove that it is false and you are not in danger to any child.

[Natacha]

Hi. My boyfriend has been battling in court for a very long time now. Not over him, but over my 7 year old son at the time. When we became very serious, his ex wife totally lost it. She accused my 7 year old son of being a sexual aggressor towards her 5 year old daughter. She also claimed that this happened many times, and my boyfriend was aware of it, and cared more about us. In fact she said that he even had to use tools to get them out of the bathroom on separate occasions. This was such a painful experience in our lives. especially when we knew that his ex wife completely made everything up. I can not believe she did this to my son. I can not believe she did this to her daughter. Then the big fight began. My boyfriend immediately filed for full custody. Then we got experts involved. I have to say....from my experience.....Not all experts are very professional. In fact some are very dangerous. Thank God we recorded every session. Of course the therapist was against this, and tried to convince the judge that what we did was illegal. She was so angry with us. Fortunately for us the judge thought our evidence was relevant. It is a very hard thing to go through. We are still going though it, and 4 years have passed. After 2 years the judge demanded that the kids see each other. After all the recording and evidence was provided. Part of us feel so terrible that we had to go to that extent, but we really didn't have a choice. Even after all this, I am so afraid of how my son will be affected by this as a man. How will my boyfriends daughter be affected by this. She is such a terrible person to do this to our kids, and what she did causes everyone to suffer forever. Now the kids act strange with each other. They love each other, but my boyfriends daughter is constantly trying to hug my son, and tell him things like" real brothers hug back"  My son loves her but as soon as she comes to hug him he gets very upset with her and basically tells her to buzz off. The more he tells her to buzz off , the more she wants to hug him. Maybe this is just normal children s behavior,   but because of this false allegation, I question every thing. Sometimes I don't know what is normal. Now because of all the experts, and the trial, the ex wife has really been acting on her best behavior. I don't think she realized to what extent , and how hard we would fight her. I mean lets face it. If we didn't fight her, and walked away from her, well her daughter would wonder her entire life if she was ever molested, and my son would have been accused or looked down on because of this. These kids did not deserve this. As I wrote already, the ex wife is acting on her best behavior, and she tries
not too manipulate as much. We do know that my boyfriends daughter is very scared of her though. So at this point, we know we will have joint custody as of June. One expert says if we have joint custody, she will not be able to manipulate her daughter as easily. I hope this works. Honestly I am still afraid though because after all this woman put her daughter and us through, she pretty much got away with it. What I mean is....she didn't get punished. The judge didn't believe her, but she still didn't get punished. She got a slap on the wrist. I think I have no choice but to do a law suit against her, for what she did to my son. If I don't, she may be capable of doing something again. I really hate court, but I think in this situation, I have no choice.
I was reading some posts about false sexual allegations. I don't know who is honest and who isn't. I just know what I have experienced, and its very hard to detect. All I have to say is, if you are truly honest, and have been a victim of a false allegation. Don't think it will be fixed tomorrow. Be patient because you may be in a battle for years. Gather up your evidence, and don't lose hope. Don't lose hope no matter how tough things get.

[Gestalt]

Natacha- please start your own thread so your issue can get optimal attention.

[Natacha]

Natacha- please start your own thread so your issue can get optimal attention.

sorry. I wasn't sure how to do that. I will figure it out.