Canada: Fired Teacher Sues After Student's False Rape Accusations

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Vancouver Island teacher who was falsely accused of raping and torturing a student is seeking compensation after the girl's claims were found to be based on a popular TV crime show.
...
Barber was arrested, then suspended. But charges were never laid due to a lack of evidence.

The Qualicum school district hired lawyer Marli Rusen to look into the case. Her 2013 investigation supported the student's allegations, and recommended that Barber be banned from the school district altogether. Soon after, Barber was fired.

The longtime teacher with a spotless record fought for his job. Ultimately, an arbitration hearing uncovered that all of the student's claims were lifted from the TV show "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." The girl testified that she had watched every episode of the drama at least three times, and some as many as 10 times.
...
The student responded that the similarities between her stories and the show was just a coincidence.

In the end, arbitrator Joan McEwan noted that the "unbelievable" claims came from "a very troubled young person" against a "decent, hard-working man."

"The Internet and media provided the student with everything she needed to construct a case that resulted in two years of unimaginable hardship to the teacher," wrote arbitrator Joan McEwan in her final report. "The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the teacher is the victim of false allegations."

Barber is now seeking damages from Rusen, saying the lawyer was negligent in her "maliciously published" report. In a civil lawsuit filed in February, he says her defamatory work resulted in this humiliation and damaged reputation.'

Also see: Law & Order: SVU fake sex allegations lead to teacher lawsuit