united-states damages governmental-liability
Sue the government for damages caused by retaliation over non compliance?
<p>Lets say you're a college student with a passion for amateur chemistry. Your going to school to be a chemist. As such, you make legal purchases online for equipment over several years. At some point, the government finds your purchases suspicious. Federal agents come over to your home to investigate. During their interview, its mentioned that they would like to search your home. You object and they threaten to tell the university and your work place that you are a "person of interest" in a criminal investigation. </p>

<p>If they were to follow through with their threat and you suffer damages in the form of getting kicked out of school and/or losing your job. Is it possible to sue the government? How would this be done?</p>

<p>No.</p>

<p>You are a "person of interest" in a criminal investigation based upon a bona fide reasonable suspicion, even though they lack probable cause, and the government has not threatened to say anything that isn't true, so you have no cause of action against the government. </p>

<p>You might have a claim against the school or your employer for wrongfully firing you (being a person of interest in an investigation isn't itself unlawful or even a meaningful mark of bad character), but you are probably an "employee at will" and thus may have no recourse against the employer other than to apply for unemployment benefits because you were fired without good cause. Your recourse against the school would depend upon the nature of that relationship.</p>
