CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace said a woman she identified as a potential victim of a sexual assault filed a lawsuit against three of the men Mace called predators during a February House speech.
Court documents state the lawsuit, filed by “Jane Doe,” accuses Mace’s former fiancé, Patrick Bryant; John Osborne and Eric Bowman and a company the lawsuit identifies as Bowman as owning. It accuses the three men of wrongful intrusion into private affairs, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, premise liability, defamation, abuse of process, negligence per se, negligence, gross negligence, and conspiracy.
Attorney Marybeth Mullaney, who represents the woman suing the three men, released a statement on her client’s behalf shortly after Mace’s news conference:
I am filing this lawsuit for myself and for other women who fear being publicly shamed if they report what happened to them. While Congresswoman Mace and I do not share the same political ideology, what has been and will continue to be important to me is her courage in bringing this to light and her unwavering support through this traumatic time in my life. I hope this case encourages women to give themselves the permission to trust their instincts and let go of the shame that never belonged to them in the first place.