Okay, I'll try to make this as short as I can. My wife had an extremely minor fender bender about 5 months ago; less than $2000 damage to both vehicles combined, no injuries, etc. Anyway, per my instruction she pled not guilty to the ticket, so she could plead the ticket down to a 0 point violation. We apparently misplaced the notice of her court date, because she missed it.
About a month ago, I asked what ever happened about that ticket, and she said she had forgotten about it. There was a warrant for her arrest, so I went downtown, paid to have the warrant removed, and set a new court date.
Today was the new court date. The woman who was involved in the accident showed up in court with her witness, i.e. passenger. She proceeded to tell the judge and anyone else who would listen that my wife was a "deadbeat" because our insurance company had only paid 65% of her damages, and she planned to sue my wife to recover the money she believes she's owed.
The judge asked my wife to describe the circumstances behind the accident, to which she did.. in the process describing how neither of them saw each other and the other party was in her opinion, driving too fast. The woman interjected, and said that my wife had a "problem with telling the truth" and her witness could verify she was going less that 10 MPH. She went on to say that she had missed two days of work because my wife was irresponsible and missed her first court date; and planned to recover her lost wages also. The judge told her she isn't entitled to anything other than her $8 from the court.
My wife said nothing, and the judge imposed a $150 fine. I wasn't there for this, and my wife called me crying about how humiliating it was for this woman to call her a liar and a deadbeat in front of a judge and court full of people. I, of course understand that the people in the courtroom could care less; especially considering the more serious reasons most of them were there.
Now I'll get to my question. I know that statements made in a court of law are covered under absolute privilege, and exempt from being slanderous statements. Can we file suit even without a real legal basis? Don't get me wrong. It's not about money, and matter of fact... I'd sue for damages of $1 just to make her haul her fat ass down there for a judge to laugh us out of court.
I know it sounds really stupid, but people like this really make me angry. We had an accident for heaven's sake; and this lady wants to make a federal case out of it.