A former candidate for Carroll County commissioner has sued his ex-wife, charging her false claim that he had physically abused her destroyed his campaign and cost him thousands of dollars in lost business.
In the lawsuit, filed in Circuit Court, Christopher Eric Bouchat seeks $250,000 from his former wife, April Elizabeth Shook.
“If someone thinks you beat your wife, they don?t want to do business with you,” Bouchat said.”It?s sad that people can do that to you in a divorce.”
He said he is seeking not only money lost from his welding business, but also compensation for damage to his reputation.
Shook claimed Bouchat physically and verbally assaulted her as they sought their divorce, made final in July.
But Judge Thomas Stansfield threw out the abuse claim when no evidence could be produced, Bouchat said.
“She threatened, and I called her bluff,” he said.
Shook could not be reached, and her lawyer in the divorce case, Steven Shemelski, did not return calls for comment.
Bouchat is also close to settling a lawsuit against the conservative magazine The Carroll Standard, claiming defamation, after it described him last year as a “wife beater.” In that suit, which he said he filed on principle, he is seeking $1 in nominal damages.
The Standard?s description came after The Examiner reported on court documents showing Bouchat had been convicted of second-degree assault in a 1997 domestic dispute with his first wife, Carmelita Seda-Carothers.
“That?s over,” Bouchat said. “Now I?m going after the person who started the whole thing.”
Bouchat lost his bid for county commissioner last year, but said he plans to run again in 2010.
“This is all part of the rebuilding process,” he said.
