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There may be one less lawsuit in the never-ending
saga of Renatta Frazier, the former Springfield Police officer who was
falsely accused of failure to prevent the rape of a fellow officer’s
daughter in October 2001. Frazier was finally cleared by an Illinois Times investigation in
2002, but sued the city of Springfield and was awarded a settlement of
approximately $650,000 in 2004. Less than a year later, Frazier was sued by
“Jane Doe,” the girl who had been raped in 2001. Doe is now
seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, Illinois
Times has learned. Doe had sued Frazier along with her attorney,
Courtney Cox, and another former SPD officer, Rickey Davis, accusing them
of intentional infliction of emotional distress, portraying her in a false
light, and defamation. She originally asked for a judgment in excess of
$50,000 for each count. Her attorney, Stephen Hedinger, said at the time
that Cox had implied on a WICS-TV (Channel 20) series that Doe had lied
about the 2001 rape. The original complaint was accompanied by a letter
requesting a “quick and quiet settlement.”
Instead, Frazier, Cox, and Davis hired attorney Don
Craven, who deposed Jane Doe in March 2006. “She was unable to point to any evidence that
any defendant ever said that she was not the victim of a rape,”
Craven says.
Two weeks ago, Hedinger asked for Craven’s
agreement to dismiss the suit without prejudice. Craven says his clients
would prefer to have the case dismissed with prejudice, so that Doe could
not file the same claim again, and they also want Doe to cover their
incurred attorney fees — about $13,000 so far. Hedinger declined to comment.
Contact Dusty Rhodes at drhodes@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2007.
