Defamation libel suit?

[Mar42]

Jurisdiction

Arizona

I have worked advocating for children as a case manager for over 4 years. Most recently I worked as a case worker in public adoptions. I was accused of misconduct during a dependency hearing by a dcs worker who emailed my employer, complaining of my conduct in court. Her allegations of my behavior were false but considered as "evidence" in my unemployment hearing where my former employer won their appeal to not pay unemployment benefits. She refused to testify in the appeal hearing where I was the only eye witness present to testify to my conduct. Bc it is not a criminal case I do not have the right to confront my accuser, whose false allegations resulted in me being fired without an investigation. Dcs gives my employer a huge contract to pretty much try and clean up their sloppy half efforts with underserved children. I made a recommendation that was other than what her statistical goals were bc I had safety concerns for the placement and children involved.

I petitioned for review of the appeal courts decision and lost. I am thinking about my options and as a results of her allegations I have been sort of blackballed in my field. Do I have a case against her for libel, or dcs or? Please advise.. thank you!

 

[adjusterjack]

DCS has immunity.

I petitioned for review of the appeal courts decision and lost.

The steps in AZ are:

Appeal the denial and the hearing is with an Administrative Law Judge.

If you lose you petition the Appeals Board to review the ALJ's decision.

If the Appeals Board upholds the decision (which is what I think you said) your next step is to file a lawsuit in the Arizona Court of Appeals. When you do that you will be able to subpoena the woman who made the allegations and if she doesn't show up the Court of Appeals might reverse your denial.

No guarantees there but you will need a lawyer. I suggest you get a free consult with a UI lawyer to determine how strong your case is and how much it will cost you to file it.

You are free to also consult a defamation attorney but I think if you don't pursue the UI to the limit, you're probably not going anywhere with a defamation lawsuit.

Do I have a case against her for libel, or dcs

DCS has immunity.

Unless you can get your UI denial reversed, I think you have no case against the woman for defamation. Even if you do get your UI denial reversed, it's anybody's guess as to whether you'd succeed in a defamation lawsuit.

 

[Mar42]

Thank you! I'll pursue the ui case to the next level and request a supeona for her to testify. I was advised that bc it's civil law I did not have the right to confront the dcs lady that made these outlandish allegations. They just took her word in an email as evidence, which I should have objected to as being included as evidence in the appeal hearing but I was not aware of that right. Thanks again for the advise!