HARTFORD (CN) - A divorced man sued Connecticut, claiming that "what passes for justice went to the highest bidder," when it awarded his ex-wife custody of their child after she tried to kill him.
Eric Stevens sued the governor, attorney general, the chief justice, his ex-wife and others on June 18 in Federal Court.
The messy divorce case made tabloid headlines when Tiffany Stevens was arrested in 2012 on suspicion of hiring a hit man to kill her ex-husband, the plaintiff in this case.
The couple made headlines again when Tiffany Stevens, nee and now again Tiffany Khalily, was awarded custody of their child.
Stevens also sued his ex-wife's mother, father, and stepfather, the child's court-appointed guardian ad litem, and a Connecticut police officer.
Tiffany Khalily is the daughter of Edward Khalily, a principal of WEGO Chemical & Mineral Corp., a multimillion dollar company, according to reporting on the case.
Stevens claims that the family's wealth allowed Tiffany to co-opt the legal system and keep him away from his daughter.
Litigation in the divorce and its related incidents has dragged on for six years, matching the number of years the couple was married. He accused her then of "infidelity and extensive drug use," he says in the new complaint.
In it, Eric Stevens says: "The defendants engaged in a systematic and concerted effort to destroy the plaintiff by making deliberately false and slanderous statement[s] about him to DCF [the Department of Children and Families] and to the judges and staff of the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut for the express purpose of driving him out of the family's life and the life of his daughter through multiple acts and omissions."
Tiffany's parents are seeking custody of the child, now 10, in the event that Tiffany is sent to prison.
Stevens claims that the DCF "had substantiated allegations of neglect" against Tiffany by 2012, and that he informed defendant guardian ad litem Mary Bergamini of it then.
He also claims that Bergamini "falsely testified in open court" against him in 2011, claiming that he was trying to poison his daughter. He claims Bergamini made other harmful and untrue allegations about him, in and out of court.
A jury deadlocked in December 2014 on Tiffany's attempted murder charge of offering a handyman $5,000 to kill her ex. She is awaiting a new trial.
Stevens does not disguise his dudgeon in his latest complaint.
"In the 350-plus history of the State of Connecticut, no other person accused of trying to have the father of her child murdered has retained custody of the child, alienated the father from the life of the child, and despite the fact that she has been released on bond, been permitted reside in another state," he says in the complaint.
None of the defendants could be located for comment Monday.
Stevens seeks punitive damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, conversion and prima facie tort.
He is represented by Norman Pattis of New Haven.
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