Ex-employee sues Children's Habilitation Center for defamation

A former employee of Children's Habilitation Center is suing over claims of defamation.

Orland Smith filed suit Nov. 13 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Children's Habilitation Center Inc. (CHC) and Prentice Dixon.

According to the suit, Smith was employed by Children's Habilitation Center as a case manager, a position he claims required him to  communicate with some of the patient's guardians in order to get permission to buy things for the patients out of their trust accounts.

Smith contends he called the mother of one of his patients and asked her if he could use a small amount of money to buy her child something.

The suit states that the child's mother agreed, but was not there to sign the form, so Smith signed at her request and initialed the signature to indicate it was done with the mother's permission.

Smith claims he was terminated on Nov. 16, 2012 by Dixon for forgery.

He contends he then filed for unemployment, but that CHC opposed the benefit because of the alleged forgery.

In his suit, Smith asserts CHC submitted documents to the unemployment agency that accused him of forgery and criminal vandalism.

According to Smith, he appealed the denial of unemployment benefits  and CHC once again accused him of forgery. Smith is suing CHC for making defamatory comments about his character and professionalism.

He is seeking more than $50,000 in damages and is being represented by Chicago attorney Lee Farbman.

Circuit Court of Cook County Case No. 2013L012711.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.