Flying a drone over a spouse’s home and remotely accessing and locking her out of her computer was found to be harassment warranting a domestic violence Final Restraining Order.
Making False Allegations To The Police Found To Be Harassment and Coercive Control Warranting a Final Restraining Order
False reports to the police alleging a violation of a final restraining order considered harassment and coercive control warranting a FRO.
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Cyber Harassment Gives Rise to FRO In Case That Emphasizes Importance of ‘Four Corners”
In the unpublished (non-precedential) decision of K.E.M. v. S.R.A., the Appellate Division used the trial court’s findings to reinstate a Final Restraining Order (“FRO”) based on the predicate act
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Vindictive Report to DCPP Can Constitute Harassment Under the Domestic Violence Statute
It should come as no surprise that after the end of a relationship, people sometimes do bad things to the former love of their life. Really, it’s a tale as
Continue Reading Vindictive Report to DCPP Can Constitute Harassment Under the Domestic Violence StatuteRemote Proceedings: Zooming Past Litigants’ Due Process Rights By: Arrianna T. Diamantis
In January 2020, the Appellate Division considered an important question: how should a judge assess a party’s request to appear at a trial and present testimony by way of video
Continue Reading Remote Proceedings: Zooming Past Litigants’ Due Process Rights By: Arrianna T. Diamantis
Tracking Your Spouse Can Result in a Final Restraining Order Even When You Ask Your Dad for Help
In the recent unpublished decision of L.G. v. T.G.. the Appellate Division addresses an issue that we are dealing with more and more – tracking one’s spouse through a
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Read This Before You Press “Record”
Technology is making it easier and easier to satisfy our curiosity about just what the heck the people in our lives are up to. Are you curious about your husband’s
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The Supremes Clarify the Legal Definition of Harassment When It Comes to “Purely Expressive Activity”
The word “harassment” is one of those terms I hear all the time as a family law attorney. I have had complaints from clients that their spouse made a mess
Continue Reading The Supremes Clarify the Legal Definition of Harassment When It Comes to “Purely Expressive Activity”
Proper Admission of Cell Phone Evidence: Judge Jones Weighs In
Accordingly to a Pew Internet Project research study, as of 2014:
- 90% of American adults own a cell phone
- 32% of American adults own an e-reader
- 42% of American adults
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The Use of Modern Technology as a Form of Domestic Violence – The Appellate Division Weighs In
The times, they are a’changing – at least when it comes to how the judicial system approaches harassment as an act of domestic violence in light of advanced technology used for communication. In the newly reported (precedential) Appellate Division decision of L.M.F. v. J.A.F., Jr., the Court addressed the use of electronic communications, specifically text messages, as a form of harassment. Those claiming an act of harassment based on electronic communications might not like what the Appellate Division had to say, as detailed further below, but the decision provides a breadth of noteworthy language in shaping what is an extremely sound, rationale and common sense methodology to approach such cases in the future.
As a refresher, harassment is defined by New Jersey statute as follows:
[A] person commits a petty disorderly persons offense if, with purpose to harass another, he:
a. Makes, or causes to be made, a communication or communications anonymously or at extremely inconvenient hours, or in offensively coarse language, or any other manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm;
b. Subjects another to striking, kicking, shoving, or other offensive touching, or threatens to do so; or
c. Engages in any other course of alarming conduct or of repeatedly committed acts with purpose to alarm or seriously annoy such other person.
Addressing the struggles faced by courts in addressing harassment as an act of domestic violence, the Appellate Division noted
The facts presented here exemplify the complexity of human interactions and the strain they place on the Family Part judges as they struggle to distinguish between the cases that merit judicial intervention and those that do not.
Further addressing such difficulties in the context of modern technology and the facts at issue, the Court first provided an online definition of “texting” from www.netlingo.com as:
[t]he act of typing and sending a brief, electronic message (less than 160 characters) via a wireless network to another person so that they can view the short message on any number of mobile or handheld devices.Continue Reading The Use of Modern Technology as a Form of Domestic Violence – The Appellate Division Weighs In