A judge has granted extra time to attorneys for a married woman and mother of three, who alleges she is the victim of a false child abuse claim, to contact and give notice to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services about their effort to obtain the children’s case files.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Meiers made her decision Friday in the lawsuit brought by a plaintiff identified only as Jane Doe, who is seeking the identity of the person or persons who made the mistreatment allegation and contends the person is not entitled to confidentiality if he or she is not a “mandated reporter.” The lawsuit alleges a violation of the state Penal Code as well as both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
In California, a mandated reporter is a person legally required to report suspected child abuse, neglect or elder/dependent adult abuse to authorities. Mandated reporters generally include professionals in education, healthcare, social services and law enforcement. The judge continued matters until May 20.
Whether the allegedly untrue report against the plaintiff was made by a mandated reporter, or not, the lawsuit case cannot proceed until Doe and her attorneys receive the case file from the DCFS, the plaintiff’s lawyers state in their court papers, adding that Doe has been trying to get the file since May 2025, the same month the lawsuit was filed.
“The best and most efficient way to move this case forward is for the court to order the DCFS to produce the records by a date certain,” Doe’s lawyers contend in their pleadings. “Upon reviewing those records, plaintiff will hopefully be able to determine whether or not the individual who made the false child abuse report was a mandated reporter…”
Doe’s attorneys also have requested information from the Lost Hills station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in order to try and unmask the person who made the allegedly inaccurate complaint against Doe, who was confronted at her home in April 2025 by a deputy who asked and was given permission to speak with her three children, the suit states.
Deputies returned the next day as Doe’s neighbors stood in front of the plaintiff’s home, “watching the spectacle caused by having law enforcement appear at plaintiff’s front door,” the suit states.
A DCFS agent went to the plaintiff’s home the subsequent day and asked one child detailed questions about any possible physical abuse and about drinking in the home, the suit states. One child was asked to roll up her sleeves to check for bruising and none were found, the suit states.
The DCFS was granted the agency’s request for the pediatric and therapist records of Doe’s children, the suit further states.