I am a custodial father of a 6 yr old girl. I was granted sole custody after a trial in March 2009. The mother was granted professionally supervised visits twice a week. Since June 2008, the mother and her former boyfriend/now husband have harassed me constantly. In November of last year, I came across a page on Facebook that listed my child's name and photo as well as statements concerning the trial where I was awarded custody. The website has stated that currently I am "physically and sexually abusing" my daughter as well as statements that I am a pedophile. I brought this to the attention of the court at a review hearing in November. The judge admonished the two people and advised them to remove it. They failed to follow the judges instructions so I filed for a civil harassment restraining order in January. At the time there was just the one site on Facebook but a day or so after I obtained the TRO, another site popped up and the statements were even more libel. Law enforcement served the RO's to Facebook as well as this other site and both were deleted. Several days prior to the removal of the initial Facebook site, another site was created on Facebook that added an "e" to the name in the title. That page is almost word for word a copy of the initial Facebook page. I have a pending hearing regarding the TRO in early April. My question is a slander/libel lawsuit different and would anyone have suggestions to where I could locate one in Northern CA.(Sac).
My child was put through a horrible ordeal numerous times due to false accusations of sexual abuse and I am gravely concerned that this will only cause my child more pain and suffering. The mother has since recruited someone to harass me at school who has a child in my daughter's grade. The mother had the child talk to my child about how her dad is abusing her.

I would not attempt this without an Attorney - in fact, I'm surprised that you haven't retained an Attorney before this. Yes, an Attorney can put a stop to all of this once and for all and can also very possibly get an emotional diistress award for you.

I trust you are printing out and saving what is being posted?

I also would be back in front of the Judge as quickly as I could do so.

There are Attorneys out there who are eager to make a name for themselves in Internet Law - I had two separate things posted about me and my Attorney was chomping at the bit to take action because he/she felt there could be an argument made about personal/professional reputation. I did not want to pursue either person. Find one of those Attorneys!

This is a legal question, not a children question, and I have asked that it be moved.

I am looking for an attorney but I haven't had good luck in finding one. I have spent so many thousands in my custody case which took 5 years to get through. I represented myself in my custody trial and won.

I have pdf's of every single day including the comments from people that call them out that end up being deleted in a few minutes.

I know - legal representation gets expensive and an award against your "ex" is pretty much meaningless if she has no money to pay you.

I think I would keep Attorney shopping - there are damages and maybe someone would take this on a contingency basis.

Just for your own info here is something I wrote a while ago: "Briefly - Generally in law libel refers to permanent/written statements and slander refers to non-permanent/spoken statements. Defamation (of character) covers both categories.

You must be damaged - and prove damages - in order to recover. The statements (either written or spoken) must be false but presented as though they were true and be beyond offensive, derogatory or insulting. Such statement must rise to a level which actually harms a person’s reputation. In general the person making the statement must either know it isn’t true or make the statement without attempting to verify if it is true.

The defense to defamation is that the information was not presented as the truth (which covers gossip), that the information was never secret (privileged) and was always public."

Well without divulging too much about myself... my child was put through 5 SART examinations and each one determined that I did not abuse my child. I was investigated by local sheriff's dept, police, CPS and even the FBI. The ex-wife tried one last time in October 2008 in making a claim of molestation against me. She and her husband spent her 5 days of visitation with my daughter threatening her until she relented and said what they wanted to hear. I voluntarily submitted to a polygraph examination from the FBI and I passed. The ex-wife took a polygraph, failed. I released the results to the Minor's counsel, while the ex-wife refused. The investigations did did reveal that the mother was coaching the child. The husband of my ex has $$$... and one friend that is not an attorney but works with some said that a lawsuit where this guy's pocketbook is at risk might be the only way to put a stop to them.

Facebook also needs to be served legal notice that they are in vioation of the posting, they can delete their account.

It took exactly that to get the initial page deleted by Facebook. I've reported the numerous pages to Facebook along with excerpts of their "Terms Of Service" but it has taken law enforcement to actually serve them the RO to get them to move.

The temporary TRO was lifted two weeks ago but I filed a Motion to reconsider to have the issue heard by a new judge. The judge that lifted the TRO was a judge that just sat in the ex's custody case for her other child. I filed the motion to have him recused at the hearing since I was not aware he would be hearing the case until that day. He granted my request but then lifted it after first ordering the order to remain "in full force and effect". The ex argued that since I was a large man there was no need for an RO. This retired judge based his decision on her statement alone and not on the trial brief that I had filed that day.

I think it's all been said - Attorney/lawsuit.