The president of the University of La Verne is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed against her by her former husband, who alleges she defamed him in her book, `This Goes Out to the Underground: A Mother, Her Daughter, and How We All Rise Together,” by stating he tried to kidnap the former couple’s daughter and traffic her in Iran.
Pardis Mahdavi’s motion was filed Monday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Colin Leis under the state’s anti-SLAPP — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation –law, which is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit filed Sept. 13 and amended six days later is San Francisco businessman Ahmad Kiarostami. He and Mahdavi were married for about 4 1/2 years and had a daughter before their divorce was finalized in November 2012.
“Unhappy with Mahdavi’s portrayal of their acrimonious relationship, divorce and child custody battle, plaintiff has now filed a retaliatory defamation lawsuit against Mahdavi and her publisher,” Mahdavi’s attorneys’ court papers state.
Each of the allegedly defamatory statements were either not actually in the book, not actionable as defamation, protected under the First Amendment or substantially true, Mahdavi’s lawyers further maintain in their court papers.
In December 2021, Mahdavi and her publisher distributed hundreds of advance copies of the book, though Mahdavi ultimately canceled its formal release, according to her attorneys’ court papers, which further state that the ULV president has published eight books and that her study areas include human trafficking, migration, sexuality, human rights and feminism.
Mahdavi and Kiarostami married in 2008, their daughter was born in 2010 and they separated a year later, according to Mahdavi’s attorneys court papers, which further state that their relationship was tumultuous throughout their separation and the subsequent divorce and child custody proceedings.
Mahdavi alleges she suffered bruised wrists during a 2012 altercation with Kiarostami and that she later obtained a temporary restraining order against him on behalf of herself and their daughter.
Mahdavi’s lawyers also maintain Kiarostami’s defamation claim is barred by the statute of limitations. A hearing on the anti-SLAAP motion is scheduled Oct. 24, 2024.
According to Kiarostami’s suit, Mahdavi’s book is “ostensibly” her personal memoir and half of it is devoted to how Kiarostami allegedly attempted to kidnap their daughter and take her to Iran in order to traffic her until an underground network of feminists helped Mahdavi to rescue the girl.
But the book contains “numerous falsehoods” about Kiarostami, including that claims regarding the former couple’s daughter and that he was a drunk, physically abusive and that he was unfaithful in his marriage when it was actually Mahdavi who had an extramarital relationship, the suit alleges.
“Mahdavi acted with actual malice in publishing her false statements in the book about Kiarostami because she fabricated the statements from whole cloth in an effort to sensationalize her memoir and to harm Kiarostami,” the suit states.
Kiarostami also alleges co-defendant publisher Hachette Book Group Inc. was negligent and possible reckless in publishing the book because the truth could have been determined with “minimal fact checking.”
Mahdavi began her post at ULV on Aug. 15. She holds a bachelor’s degree in diplomacy and world affairs, a master’s degree in human rights and a second master’s degree as well as a doctorate in sociomedical sciences and anthropology.