sued for slander,libel and defamation

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What is the name of your state? Nevada Las Vegas
I have an obsessed gay man stalking me. My wife has been sued for slander, libel and defamation for
1) testifying in court at a restraining order against him (he claims her testimony was false)
2) at a deposition hearing he produced original documents listed as stolen from my home so I called the police at the deposition to make a report and to recover these items. The police turned up and he and his attorney denied having them, even though it is on camera. They quickly left NV and to catch a flight to CA. He sued for defmation and he claims this was a false police report, that we falsely told the police that he came to Las Vegas to turn himself in.
3) for having slandered him to business associates. (He lives in California, we live in Nevada. My wife met the person once for only 20 seconds, and the only other time she has seen him was at depositions and court hearings.)
4) for filing our restraining order in NV. (We left California to get away from the stalker after I recieved a two year restraining order against him in California.)
5) for listing him as a suspect for the burgalary of our home in our police report
6) for saying my wife said he was "untrustworthy" to some unnamed "potential business associate".

The lawsuit in my opinion was filed to try and ruin my marriage. The previous postings quote a California supreme court decision that protects people who testify, file police reports, and file court documents for restraining orders. Is this the same for NV? Does anyone know of experienced NV Law firm that deals with this stuff?

Thank you .

 

[quincy]

In court proceedings, what is said is privileged and you cannot be sued successfully for defamation in such a situation. However, if you lie under oath, you can be charged with perjury, and it is illegal to file a false police report.

You can click on Find a Lawyer to find a lawyer in Nevada who can assist you.

 

[move on]

thank you for the reply

So what you are saying is that you are protected in court proceedings
eg. testimony, does this include filing restraining orders and police reports. Is it only upto the State or federal court prosecutor to decide on whether these reports are false (note-the ones we filed are true) an individual cannot sue you? What cases or statutes are you using as a reference for NV?

I posted my case on the find a lawyer and did a search but so far there are no attorneys in the LV area from the search that match this type of case.

thank you for you reply, very helpful.

 

[quincy]

In Nevada, filing a false police report is generally a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 6 months in jail and/or a $1000 fine (filing a false Amber Alert, however, is a felony). This is true of filing for a restraining order based on a false police report, as well. In addition to jail time and fines, a person who defames another (by filing a false report against them or by obtaining a restraining order based on this false police report), can be sued for defamation by the person whose reputation has been injured by these false charges.

If you give false testimony in court, you are committing a felony (perjury), however, in Nevada, prosecution for perjury is rare. Attorneys, in fact, are more apt to get in trouble (with the State Bar) for their client lying in court, than the lying client is.

Giving false testimony is not civilly actionable, but it is subject to criminal perjury prosecution. Perjury can also be, and is more likely to be, punishable as contempt of court. And, if judgments made were based on perjured testimony, these judgments can be successfully attacked.

Defamatory comments made in court are absolutely privileged, and a person cannot sue over defamatory comments made about them in these situations. The reason for allowing defamatory communications in court is that it encourages people to speak freely without fear of facing civil liability for what they say.

If you had no success locating a Las Vegas attorney at Find a Lawyer, you may want to call the State BAR of Nevada for references.

 

[move on]

thank you for the reply

Very helpful.