A California man involved in a messy child custody dispute is now in court seeking punitive damages against his estranged wife, a private investigator, a police sheriff and deputy, and several others. He is charging civil rights violations, bad faith arrest, false imprisonment, abuse of process, intentional affliction of emotional distress and constitutional violations.

The man says that his wife wanted him to look bad to the court in the child custody case so she hired a private investigator who arranged for him to be arrested for drunk driving.

The private investigator worked with a number of other people to ply the man with drinks. When he left the bar, the investigator called a sheriff's deputy, who promptly arrested him.

Months later one of the parties to the set-up emailed the man and apologized for his role in the event, explaining what had happened.

The deputy's partner allegedly was told by the deputy that the plaintiff needed to be "dirtied up" before a court date and that the arrest was a set up. The man is further charging that this isn't the first time the deputy has arrested someone on a "dirty DUI."

If this claim is found to be true, this wife's attempt to get the upper hand in family court is likely to backfire terribly.

Source: Courthouse News, "Man claims deputy was in on dirty arrest," by Chris Marshall, December 5, 2011