#TheyLied Defamation Case Based on Allegations of False Accusations of Rape Can Go Forward
From last week’s decision in Ziade v. Abdullah by the Nevada Court of Appeals (Chief Judge Bonnie Bulla and Judges Michael Gibbons and Deborah Westbrook)
Ziade, a Las Vegas resident, and … Abdullah, a Canadian citizen residing in California, were in a long distance online relationship for approximately five months before Abdullah relocated to Las Vegas. During the relationship, Ziade provided Abdullah with funds that she represented would be used to pay for legal representation to obtain a restraining order against her abusive ex-boyfriend, and to pay for hospital bills.
On August 6, 2021—shortly after Abdullah arrived in Las Vegas—she filed a police report that alleged Ziade sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions while visiting her in her hotel room. However, the responding officer indicated in the police report that Abdullah declined to press charges, and that she refused to submit to a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination exam at the time of the report. Soon after Abdullah moved in with Ziade.
The relationship quickly deteriorated. On August 27, both parties reported a domestic disturbance at Ziade’s home. Ziade called the police non-emergency line and reported that Abdullah locked herself in her bedroom and was refusing to leave his home after a discussion wherein Abdullah was “crying and yelling because [he] was not showing her the attention she wanted.”
After leaving the home, Abdullah called 9-1-1 and later reported to the officers responding to her call that Ziade had committed an act of domestic violence on her person by shoving her down the stairs, grabbing her by the shoulders and dragging her by the hair toward the front door. The accompanying police report reflects that Abdullah refused to show the responding officers her injuries at the scene and that they “could not substantiate that a battery occurred.” Abdullah presented to the hospital the next day with bruising on her left collarbone.
As a result of the August 27 police report and related follow-up interviews, Ziade was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence. Although Ziade denied the allegations made against him, he apparently agreed t
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