macgyverguy
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Louisiana
I'm trying to figure out whether or not I should sue someone over what is most definitely slander and libel. I currently have a case pending in the United States Middle District regarding First Amendment rights violations, as well as FERPA violations, against Louisiana State University for their actions in this situation.
The case stems from a vindictive ex-girlfriend. In October of 2006, I dumped this woman because of the way she was treating my children. Less than a month later, the police showed up at my doorstep. This woman had called the police and accused me of harassing her by phone and by e-mail. I showed the police officers my phone records and e-mails to prove that she was the one actually still trying to contact me. Evidently, she got tired of me not answering my phone and decided to make a false report against me. The police officers told me not to worry about it and they just asked that I be sure to not have any contact with her. I told them that wouldn't be a problem, but I expected the same thing from her.
Both of us were full-time students at LSU at the time. The following day, this woman went into the Office of Judicial Affairs and filed a complaint, again claiming that I was harassing her by phone, e-mail, and on Facebook. None of this was true as I was doing anything I could to get away from this woman. Without any proof whatsoever, Judicial Affairs opened an investigation into me.
Needless to say, after almost a year of half-witted investigating which was very biased, I was found guilty of harassment because I told this woman that I would testify against her in an ongoing custody battle that she was in. Supposedly, that was perceived as 'a threat' to this woman's academic environment. Yeah, whatever. That's one of the reasons why the lawsuit is pending in the federal courts.
During the course of the investigation, this woman claimed that I was beating one of my children with a hairbrush. This caused the Judicial Affairs office to investigate my family affairs, more specifically by contacting my child's day care center and speaking to her teacher and the director of the center. That's where FERPA comes into play.
Over the summer of this past year, a hearing was held in my absence regarding the matter. In the hearing, this woman lied repeatedly to the hearing panel and accused me of stalking her, harassing her by phone, harrassing her by e-mail, threatening her, you name it...she accused me of it. At one point, she even says that she was "fearful for her life" because of the way that she accused me of acting. At no point in time was this woman ever asked to produce any evidence to back her stories up. In fact, the asst. director of Judicial Affairs sat in the room of the hearing with my phone records in hand and never once bothered to show them to the panel. The panel never asked for them either. It was a kangaroo court, plain and simple.
Since that time, I have learned from an LSU Police Officer that this woman had accused two men of crimes while at LSU. One was accused of rape, the other of sexual assault. Clearly, this woman either has very bad luck with men or she likes to file false reports. My guess is the latter considering all that she did to me. She also had pending domestic violence charges pending against her in a parish court.
I have had a psychological examination done which clearly shows that my grades have been effected by this matter. In a matter of one year, my GPA dropped from a 3.17 to below a 2.0. I've been on academic probation for a year because of all of this. Over the course of two semesters, I managed to pass two classes out of 24 hours attempted. Both of those classes resulted in D's. I've basically lost one year of my academic work, along with any chance that I ever had for going to graduate school. As a 33 year old single father, I came back to school with every intention of going on to get my Masters and PhD to provide a nice life for my children.
My question is whether or not I would be able to go after her for defamation of character by means of slander and libel. The slander would be the spoken testimony that she provided to the hearing panel and police officers, while the libel would be the written statements made to police and the Office of Judicial Affairs. She has also said a number of derogatory things about me on Facebook, accusing me of stalking her, calling me psychotic, etc, etc. I've lost over $20,000 in the past year, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential earned income thanks to the vindictive ways of this woman.
Any help that anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated!
I'm trying to figure out whether or not I should sue someone over what is most definitely slander and libel. I currently have a case pending in the United States Middle District regarding First Amendment rights violations, as well as FERPA violations, against Louisiana State University for their actions in this situation.
The case stems from a vindictive ex-girlfriend. In October of 2006, I dumped this woman because of the way she was treating my children. Less than a month later, the police showed up at my doorstep. This woman had called the police and accused me of harassing her by phone and by e-mail. I showed the police officers my phone records and e-mails to prove that she was the one actually still trying to contact me. Evidently, she got tired of me not answering my phone and decided to make a false report against me. The police officers told me not to worry about it and they just asked that I be sure to not have any contact with her. I told them that wouldn't be a problem, but I expected the same thing from her.
Both of us were full-time students at LSU at the time. The following day, this woman went into the Office of Judicial Affairs and filed a complaint, again claiming that I was harassing her by phone, e-mail, and on Facebook. None of this was true as I was doing anything I could to get away from this woman. Without any proof whatsoever, Judicial Affairs opened an investigation into me.
Needless to say, after almost a year of half-witted investigating which was very biased, I was found guilty of harassment because I told this woman that I would testify against her in an ongoing custody battle that she was in. Supposedly, that was perceived as 'a threat' to this woman's academic environment. Yeah, whatever. That's one of the reasons why the lawsuit is pending in the federal courts.
During the course of the investigation, this woman claimed that I was beating one of my children with a hairbrush. This caused the Judicial Affairs office to investigate my family affairs, more specifically by contacting my child's day care center and speaking to her teacher and the director of the center. That's where FERPA comes into play.
Over the summer of this past year, a hearing was held in my absence regarding the matter. In the hearing, this woman lied repeatedly to the hearing panel and accused me of stalking her, harassing her by phone, harrassing her by e-mail, threatening her, you name it...she accused me of it. At one point, she even says that she was "fearful for her life" because of the way that she accused me of acting. At no point in time was this woman ever asked to produce any evidence to back her stories up. In fact, the asst. director of Judicial Affairs sat in the room of the hearing with my phone records in hand and never once bothered to show them to the panel. The panel never asked for them either. It was a kangaroo court, plain and simple.
Since that time, I have learned from an LSU Police Officer that this woman had accused two men of crimes while at LSU. One was accused of rape, the other of sexual assault. Clearly, this woman either has very bad luck with men or she likes to file false reports. My guess is the latter considering all that she did to me. She also had pending domestic violence charges pending against her in a parish court.
I have had a psychological examination done which clearly shows that my grades have been effected by this matter. In a matter of one year, my GPA dropped from a 3.17 to below a 2.0. I've been on academic probation for a year because of all of this. Over the course of two semesters, I managed to pass two classes out of 24 hours attempted. Both of those classes resulted in D's. I've basically lost one year of my academic work, along with any chance that I ever had for going to graduate school. As a 33 year old single father, I came back to school with every intention of going on to get my Masters and PhD to provide a nice life for my children.
My question is whether or not I would be able to go after her for defamation of character by means of slander and libel. The slander would be the spoken testimony that she provided to the hearing panel and police officers, while the libel would be the written statements made to police and the Office of Judicial Affairs. She has also said a number of derogatory things about me on Facebook, accusing me of stalking her, calling me psychotic, etc, etc. I've lost over $20,000 in the past year, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential earned income thanks to the vindictive ways of this woman.
Any help that anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated!
