'Mormon Wives' Star Taylor Frankie Paul's Ex Dakota Mortensen Sues Hulu for Defamation

Dakota Mortensen is slamming "Mormon Wives" producers ... claiming they staged scenes and faked storylines to make him appear as a serial cheater and abuser.

According to court docs obtained by TMZ, Dakota is seeking damages from Hulu and the producers at Jeff Jenkins Productions and Ludwig Productions.

He claims the producers were able to deceive the audience with storylines "assembled from staged events and from the deliberate deletion of footage that contradicted the storyline, and published after the producers had been informed by Mortensen and by others, that the allegations were false."

He said he's not complaining  about a negative edit ... Dakota says this is much more serious in his opinion.

Dakota said the producers painted him as Taylor Frankie Paul's abusive ex, that he was obsessed with her and would not let her go, that he retaliated against  her by reporting her to Child Protective Services, and that he was unfaithful to her.

Dakota said it was all lies.

He claims producers actually shot footage of Taylor striking him with a pizza box … but it was cut out. He claimed Taylor accused him of calling child protective services, but he insists he never made the call.

Dakota claims his reputation has been ruined ... causing him to lose out on a ton of business deals. He also claims to have suffered emotional distress and humiliation.

His lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages in excess of $300K.