A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to hold the Arapahoe County’s commissioners liable for the actions of a former county child protective staffer who faces criminal charges for allegedly falsely accusing an Aurora councilwoman of sexually abusing her 2-year-old son.

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Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky in the lawsuit claimed constitutional violations by former county employee Robin Niceta, the county commissioners and the county’s human services department. The lawsuit had sought class-action status for 24 other individuals who alleged Niceta and other county child protective staffers had falsified evidence during investigations.

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Niceta’s criminal trial is still pending on charges she filed a false child abuse complaint against Jurinsky with the county’s human services department, the same agency where Niceta worked. Niceta also faces criminal charges for allegedly fabricating medical records claiming she had a brain tumor and was not fit to stand trial.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip Brimmer, in his ruling tossing the lawsuit, wrote that Niceta’s alleged action was a private act that did not involve her responsibilities as a child protective worker.

The judge wrote that any citizen could have called into the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services hotline, as Niceta did to make her false sexual child abuse complaint against Jurinsky.

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The lawsuit alleged Niceta also interfered by requesting that the complaint investigation be assigned to her. But Brimmer found that the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that, where the actions of an official “clearly fall within ‘the gambit of their personal pursuits,’ those actions cannot be considered acts under color of state law.”

Elliot Singer, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on Jurinsky’s behalf, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Arapahoe board chair Commissioner Carrie Warren-Gulley, in a prepared statement, hailed the dismissal of what she called a “groundless lawsuit” that had placed county employees under “undue public scrutiny” due to the “actions of one bad actor.”

Niceta is accused of filing the anonymous complaint against Jurinsky as retaliation for Jurinsky calling for the firing of Niceta’s girlfriend at the time, Vanessa Wilson, who was then the Aurora police chief. Niceta and Wilson, who is no longer the police chief, have since broken up.

U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte Sweeney in July declined to dismiss another federal lawsuit filed against Niceta that alleged Niceta gave false testimony during an investigation into a father’s alleged sexual assault of his children.

The investigation resulted in the wrongful removal of two children from their parents, according to that lawsuit. The children ultimately were returned to the parents “a year and a half after their removal,” according to that lawsuit, which only names Niceta as a defendant.

Niceta did not contest another lawsuit filed by Jurinsky in Arapahoe County District Court. Arapahoe County District Court Judge Elizabeth Beebe Volz entered a default judgment against Niceta in that case, and in January ordered Niceta to pay $3 million in damages to Jurinsky, who had sued for slander, libel and outrageous conduct.