Q: Can I sue in Maryland for loss wages, attorney fee, emotional distress, slander, etc
Hi. I’m a 22 year old female who’s life was flipped
Upside down. My ex charged me with theft over 100k, embezzlement, and theft scheme after I broke up with him. I was indicted, arrested, and two years later my case was nolle prosequi.
My ex never told the state’s attorney there was any romance involved and tried playing it off as if I was just his employee.
Now that my case is over I’ve come to realization of what I’ve lost. My job, clients at my side business, my car got repossessed, I lost friends and family and I have back debt to credit cards. I also had to pay bail and attorney fees.
I would like to go after my ex to recoup losses but I know in the state of Maryland it is hard :(
A: Yes, you can sue. There are recognized "causes of action" that provide the legal basis for a recovery of damages (even though there may be several such grounds, you can only recover one set of damages). It's not so much proving the amount of damages, but collecting them if the defendant does not have significant assets from which to pay. The fact he was your employer may provide grounds against his business and trigger potential coverage under his business liability insurance if he had any. It may also provide several employment-based causes of action, which may prove more fruitful than the typical causes of action such as malicious prosecution, abuse of process, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, etc. Work-based causes of action include sexual harassment/hostile work environment, among others. I would recommend you start with an employment law attorney who handles such claims, and obtain a consultation.
J. D. A. agrees with this answer
A: To add on to Mr. Oakley's good answer, in a malicious prosecution action, the fact that the criminal charges were dismissed by the prosecutor (nolo prosequi) does not give the plaintiff the benefit of a legal presumption that there was no probable cause for the former employer to "bring" the charges. The prosecutor could have made that decision for a number of reasons. On the other hand, if it can be shown that the former employer intentionally provided materially false information, that strengthens the proof that the prosecution was requested out of malice. It's certainly worth discussing with an attorney.
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