California  |  Criminal Law

There's a lot missing from your narrative, but from what you have said the answer seems to be no. Court filings can never form the basis of a successful defamation claim, even if they are intentionally false and substantially harm the other party. You may have a claim for abuse of process, but not for defamation.

I'm sorry to report that abuse of process claims are hard to win.

Since EPO's are usually entered into California's CLETS computerized records of criminal records, yes, a prospective employer could see this false accusation. The civil law does not provide any remedy for sealing up such fraudulent court files however.

The only hope you have for undoing this damage (assuming you are in fact innocent), would be if you were also arrested or detained as a result of her false accusations.

I am probably the only lawyer in California to have ever gotten a Family Court EPO docket sealed and destroyed, because Factual innocence Petitions under Cal. Penal Code Sec. 851.8 are my specialty. But nothing can be done unless the police either arrested you or detained you for questioning concerning her accusations. Then if the criminal court grants the factual innocence petition, it might be possible to seal and destroy the EPO records too, including all mention in California's Dept. Of Justice computers (which police agencies and employers resort to to check background).

To learn more about PFI's (Petitions for Factual Innocence), you can read the articles on my web site here:

http://lawyer-expungement.com/petition.htm

and

http://lawyer-expungement.com/results.htm

I'm sorry this happened, because I know from my other clients that a mere arrest or EPO can have severe consequences for the rest of a person's life. Good luck.