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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

‘NCIS’ Actress in Real-Life Domestic Drama

LOS ANGELES (CN) - "NCIS" star Pauley Perrette sought restraining orders against her ex-husband Francis Shivers, who now claims in court that his ex-wife is gaming the court system and terrorizing him.

Perrette successfully obtained court orders against Shivers after they separated in 2004 and divorced in 2006.

Shivers later faced allegations from his previous wife, model and singer Bebe Buell, and ex-girlfriend Angela Garber, that he was physically and psychologically abusive.

All three women have claimed that Shivers harasses them through bogus complaints and requests for restraining orders, according to a September 2009 story from Fox News.

TMZ reported in 2012 that Shivers was arrested for violating the terms of a restraining order by showing up to eat at the same sushi restaurant Perrette was in.

But in his new Superior Court complaint, Francis "Coyote" Shivers, 48, calls himself an "unwilling victim." He claims that Perrette, 44, was inspired by an unsold screenplay she wrote, "Star Crazy," in which an actress takes revenge on a man who rejected her.

"Perrette never succeeded in selling her 'Star Crazy' script," Shivers says in his complaint. "Instead, she decided to act it out in real life with plaintiff as her unwilling victim and co-star."

Shivers claims Perrette attempted to break into the house he was living in when he filed for divorce in 2004, and says he sought a restraining order against the actress in early 2005.

During a "decade-long campaign of harassment," Perrette has "intended to financially, physically, and emotionally ruin plaintiff," the 11-page lawsuit states.

Shivers reportedly married Brazilian journalist and author Mayra Dias Gomes in 2010. The actor and musician claims that Perrette admitted to hiring investigators to snoop on him, and has dug up personal financial information on his wife.

Shivers claims that Perrette and her fiancé, former British Royal Marine and actor Thomas Arklie set a trap for him at the Shintaro restaurant so he would unwittingly violate the terms of the restraining order.

In November 2012, Shivers claims, he and his wife went to the Shintaro restaurant, an eatery he frequented, to find Perrette and Arklie waiting for them.

Shivers says he tried to leave and claims Perrette and Arklie "moved their bodies to a location anticipated to be in proximity to them [Shivers and his wife], for the ulterior purpose of triggering violation of the temporary restraining order."

The lawsuit claims that Perrette and Arklie secured a criminal protective order after Shivers, "in self-defense, instinctively began to record Arklie's attempted assault and pursuit of plaintiff as he and his wife attempted to exit the Shintaro restaurant."

Furthermore, Shivers says, Perrette has tried to stop him from using the word "stalker" when referring to her on Twitter and has incited "NCIS" fans, who have sent him death threats.

Perrette paints herself as a "victim of real-life domestic abuse so as to promote her police procedural drama television series at the expense of plaintiff's rights and wellbeing," Shivers claims.

"Prior to the March 20, 2012 incident at Shintaro, defendant Perrette had testified in other proceedings, and the court had found, that there had in fact been no history of any domestic violence," the lawsuit states.

Alleging assault, abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress, Shivers seeks punitive damages and costs.

He identifies Perrette by the name Laura Pauline Perrett in his complaint. He also names Arklie as a co-defendant.

He is represented by Hirad Dadgostar.

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