Former male legislator sues woman accuser

SACRAMENTO -- Former Assemblyman Matt Dababneh has filed a defamation lawsuit against the woman whose sexual harassment allegations forced him to resign from office earlier this year. But attorneys say the aggressive tactic could backfire.

"From a legal standpoint, this is an incredibly risky tactic on his part because this will open up his entire character to discovery," said Mary-Alice Coleman, a Davis-based plaintiffs' employment lawyer.

The suit was filed Tuesday by Patricia L. Glaser, a well-known employment attorney and partner with Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP in Los Angeles. Dababneh v. Lopez, 18-00238699 (Sacramento Super. Ct., filed Aug. 14, 2018).

The six-page complaint seeks punitive damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Dababneh claims lobbyist Pamela Lopez knowingly lied when she and her attorneys held a press conference in December before filing an official complaint with the State Assembly.

Glaser did not return a call seeking comment.

Lopez claimed Dababneh cornered her in a bathroom at a pre-wedding party in a hotel in Las Vegas in 2016 and masturbated in her presence. He denied the allegations but resigned from office in January.

Unlike Lopez's allegations, the complaint left much to the imagination. The most visible strategy appears to be to poke holes in Lopez's credibility.

For instance, it states that "Dababneh does not drink alcoholic beverages" but that "Lopez admittedly had several alcoholic beverages." It then cites an October New York Times story in which Lopez relates a similar account, occurring in Sacramento with an anonymous perpetrator.

Dababneh claims that due to Lopez's false allegations and "reckless disregard," Dababneh endured "mental suffering, anguish, fright, horror ... loss of sleep."

Dababneh's complaint also alleges he has suffered professional harm and "irreparably diminished" standing in the political community.

Wendy Musell, a plaintiff's employment attorney with Stewart & Musell LLP in San Francisco and board chair with the California Employment Lawyers Association, said Dababneh does not specifically allege he is unable to find employment due to Lopez's allegations.

Musell said studies have shown the filing of a sexual harassment claim often harms one's career but alleged harassers often do find gainful employment afterward.

"Being accused of sexual harassment isn't the death knell that some people have stated it was," Musell said.

She added it's also possible the suit is an attempt to "discourage other people from coming forward with allegations of sexual harassment or assault." Musell noted another woman also accused Dababneh of harassment at the December press conference.

"I think it's a desperate act of retaliation and an attempt to silence her, which in this era of the #MeToo movement, where you have multiple women coming forward and naming the same perpetrator, isn't going to fly," said Lopez's attorney, Jean K. Hyams of Levy Vinick Burrell Hyams LLP in Oakland. "The Legislature conducted an investigation which sustained Ms. Lopez's allegations."

Dababneh has appealed the Legislature's findings.

"My opinion is that this lawsuit is not going to get past the pleading stage," said Micha Star Liberty, a plaintiffs' attorney and founder of Liberty Law Office in Oakland. "My assumption is there will be an anti-SLAPP motion brought that has a pretty good likelihood of prevailing."