False accusations/perjury

[JTP Dominic]

Pennsylvania

A protection order was issued against my minor son by his ex girlfriend. The basis of her complaint was that he raped her a few months previously. No criminal charges were brought against him and in fact the officer serving him the protection order told him not to worry, everyone knew about her. (as an aside this was the 3rd, maybe the 4th time she has falsely accused someone of rape. she accused her previous BF twice!) While this order was in force she would stalk him at school and make him leave wherever he was. The school officials were aware of the situation and of her past. Despite this, some were still rude and unwilling to help my son. These allegations caused an emotional disruption between my son and his best friend. This action was brought by her grandfather on her behalf because she is a minor. Her mother's new boyfriend wrote an anonymous letter to the director of admissions of a university that my son had applied informing them that he was a rapist. Case was thrown out as it was apparent that she was lying. some of her friends testified about the mom's boyfriend and that she thought it was funny that she could disrupt my son's life. I have incurred legal fees in excess of $2,500. for his defense. Are they recoverable, including any additional costs to recover them?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[quincy]

Are your son's legal fees recoverable? Possibly.

If your son has not spoken with an attorney about bringing a defamation action over the false accusations of rape, he probably should be talking to one now. The statute of limitations for defamation suits in Pennsylvania is one year from the date of first publication of defamatory statements. The police complaints, unless shown to be made with malice, cannot be the basis for a suit, however the false and defamatory comments made about your son to others could support one.

Good luck.

 

[JTP Dominic]

Since the basis of the police complaint was a lie, does that not demonstrate malice?

Also, aside from recovering legal fees, it seems to me that a punitive award would be justified given the letter written to the director of admissions by the girl's mother's boyfriend. Surely the motivation could have been nothing but malice in an attempt have my son seen in a negative light and potentially jeopardizing his acceptance to this university.

 

[quincy]

No. A police complaint is never considered true or false at the time it is made. It takes a police investigation to determine whether a complaint has any merit. If the complaint turns out to have no merit after an investigation, the matter is dropped. If the complaint appears to have merit, the police may pursue it further.

What is reported to the police is considered privileged and cannot (generally) form the basis of a defamation action. The reason reports to the police are given this immunity from suit is so people will not be afraid to report what they see, hear or suspect. If a person is afraid of being sued over what they report, they may refrain from reporting crimes or suspected criminal activity.

Unless it can be proved that the complaint was made with actual malice - made with a knowledge that what was being reported was false at the time it was made and was made with a deliberate intent to cause harm - a complaint cannot be used to support a legal action. Actual malice is an extremely difficult element to prove. It would be especially difficult in your described situation, where the complaint to the police was made by the grandfather and not by the girl who was accusing your son of rape. It is reasonable to assume the grandfather believed what his granddaughter told him about your son. It would be certainly hard to prove that he didn't, at any rate.

It IS a crime in ALL states to knowingly make a false police report. If it is determined that a report was made knowing it was false, then the police can potentially turn the matter over to a prosecutor to have charges filed against the reporter. It is up to the police, however, to seek charges over the filing of a false police report, and it would be up to the prosecutor to decide if charges will be filed. This is what the police did in the "balloon-boy" incident, for instance, after balloon-boy essentially told the police that the balloon incident was a hoax perpetrated by his parents. And the prosecutor did file charges against balloon-boy's parents. Police resources are limited. When the police must expend a lot of time, energy and money investigating a false complaint (as they did when chasing what they thought was a boy in a runaway balloon), then they are more apt to request that a false police report charge be brought.

The letter sent to the director of admissions that was written by the girl's mother's boyfriend could potentially be used to support a defamation action against the boyfriend and, should your son's defamation suit be won, there could be an award of damages to compensate for the injury to your son's reputation and to compensate for any economic losses suffered as a result of the false accusations being made against him. Punitive damages, however, are not often awarded any more.

You and/or your son should speak with an attorney in your area. Your son should explore with the attorney the legal options that may be available to him. Because you have to stay mindful of statutes of limitations for bringing certain actions, I would speak with this attorney soon.

Good luck.

 

[JTP Dominic]

Thanks for your insights Quincy.

 

[quincy]

You're welcome, JTP Dominic.

I understand that what your son has gone through is horrible and is something that no one should have to go through. While false allegations of rape are not common, when they are made, they can have long-lasting, wide-ranging, and devastating effects for the person wrongfully accused.

I am sure that you have read in your Pennsylvania newspapers recently about former Pennsylvania State running back Austin Scott's continuing battle to obtain legal relief, through the federal civil rights action he filed in 2009 against his accuser (Penn State is named as codefendant).

Scott was charged with rape in 2007 after a female student filed a rape complaint against him with the police. The charges were dropped in 2008 shortly after a federal judge ruled that a prior false accusation of rape made by this same female student could be admissible as evidence in court. The male student in the earlier case was acquitted on the rape charges.

Although Pennsylvania has a Rape Shield Law, PA C.S. §3104, which generally would exclude all prior history of sexual attacks as evidence, there is an exception to this rule found in Pennsylvania caselaw (Commonwealth v Boyles, 595 A 2d 1180, Pa Super 1991; Commonwealth v Black, 487 A 2d 396, Pa Super 1995) and it was on this exception that the federal judge made his ruling in the Scott case.

At any rate, there is no telling how the Scott case will turn out (discovery in his case has recently been extended to December of this year, which means it will probably be 2011 at the earliest before we will know), but the Austin Scott case demonstrates how difficult it is (and time consuming and costly) to pursue any sort of legal action against a false accuser.

I wish you and your son good luck, JTP.

 

[JTP Dominic]

There was never a criminal charge of rape actually filed against my son. Her allegation of rape was the basis for her getting a protection order. She got the order about a month after the alleged rape. She then used this order to harass and defame my son. We are talking about a very emotionally immature girl who in fact has been abused by her alcoholic mother. She also has a history of self mutilation. Self medicating and repeated commitments as a result of her self destructive behavior. I actually feel sorry for her and hope she gets the help she needs. We had welcomed her into our home and tried to present a more normal environment for her. My son, although naive, tried to 'rescue' her. Her mom (God help us, a school teacher) would come home from work every day and crack open a bottle of wine and proceed to get trashed. My son took it upon himself to do their grocery shopping, clean there house, do there laundry and cook there meals! He would accompany them every Sunday to Grand Mom's and Granddad's, where Granddad would, in my opinion, inappropriately complain to my son that his daughter has been promiscuous and doing drugs and alcohol since she was in 10th grade and has had multiple abortions. I am certain that the protection order was sought at the urging of her mother. The grand father, whom I am sure just wanted to help his grand daughter, ended up being the adult filing on her behalf since she is a minor. The mom's new boyfriend, who never even met my son, writing to the director of admissions was I'm sure done with the belief that it would ingratiate him to his new pig, slut, alcoholic girlfriend. I don't blame the girl. She too is the victim. I want remuneration from the vindictive adults who should know better. Our legal fees are north of $3,300. Not to mention missed work, uncertainty of outcome and the resultant anxiety. Interestingly, the mother has had her daughter move out of her house and she is now living with her grand parents.

 

[JTP Dominic]

one more thing. you said:
"Unless it can be proved that the complaint was made with actual malice - made with a knowledge that what was being reported was false at the time it was made and was made with a deliberate intent to cause harm - a complaint cannot be used to support a legal action. Actual malice is an extremely difficult element to prove. It would be especially difficult in your described situation, where the complaint to the police was made by the grandfather and not by the girl who was accusing your son of rape. It is reasonable to assume the grandfather believed what his granddaughter told him about your son. It would be certainly hard to prove that he didn't, at any rate."

There is a misunderstanding. The complaint is hand written by the girl. I am assuming the title on the order says "Mr. Grand Pop on behalf of accuser" because she is a minor. The actual allegations are 100% made by her, not her grandfather.

 

[quincy]

I understood, JTP, that no criminal charges were filed against your son. I only provided the information on Austin Scott to illustrate how difficult and costly and time consuming it can be to pursue a false accuser in court.

And I also want to clarify: YOU do not have any legal action YOU can pursue, although it has been your money used to defend your son in the protection order hearing. Your son is the one who has been defamed so he is the one who can try to seek legal recourse in court through the filing of a defamation action.

Trying to sue the girl, a minor, over the false complaint would be difficult at best - one, because the report itself is privileged and you must overcome this privilege through a showing of actual malice (probably without being able to use the girl's other false accusations against the other boys due to Pennsylvania's Rape Shield laws) and, two, because the police chose not to hand the false report over to the prosecutor for possible charges against the girl, eliminating your son's possible reliance on a "filing of a false police report" charge and/or conviction to bolster his own suit against the girl.

Proving that someone filed a police report with actual malice (knowing the complaint that was filed was false when it was filed, and filed with a deliberate intent to cause injury) is not easy to do, and this could be especially the case when the girl, as you describe her, is young, confused, possibly abused, and emotionally disturbed.

Your son's best action, if an attorney determines a defamation suit can be supported by the facts, would be against any one or all of those who have called your son a rapist, outside court filings, outside court proceedings, and outside the original police complaint filed against him. This means that the suit that seems most worth filing, based on what information you have provided here, would be against the mother's boyfriend, who took it upon himself to write a defamatory letter to the university admissions office claiming falsely that your son is a rapist. If the letter was an "anonymous" letter, however, there are difficulties proving it was the boyfriend who sent the letter. Your suspicions alone will not suffice.

A court action is a risk here, JTP, for many reasons that can best be outlined by an attorney in your area. For one thing, you must spend MORE of your money on an attorney to pursue an action that may or may not be successful. For another thing, the false accusations against your son may get wider publicity than they already have, which could result in your son's name being wrongly attached in people's minds to "rapist" and not to a "falsely accused" label.

Again, JTP, run your situation by an attorney in your area to see what the attorney thinks. You may find that the additional dollars you must spend in a lawsuit, to recover the dollars you have already spent defending your son's good name, may not be worth the risk of losing it all. There is never a guarantee that any lawsuit will be a successful one.

Good luck to both you and your son, and to the young girl who obviously needs help.


Edit to add: Something I suggest you look into, JTP: Anytime a petition is filed with a court or a complaint is filed with the police, a record is created. These records can include names, addresses, dates of birth, official and unofficial law enforcement files, court motions, findings, dispositions, etc. To protect your son, you will want to see that ALL records of the complaint against him, the protective order, and the court hearings relating to the complaint and the protective order are expunged (destroyed, erased). In addition, you will want to make sure that the information provided to your son's school, on the temporary protection order when it was issued, was not made a part of his permanent school record. You can ask at the court about a Petition and Order for Expungement.