Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Mitigating case law or precedent regarding bipolar sufferrer and civil TRO

Mental disorders or disabilities are generally not valid defenses against tort claims, although they may be enough to prevent an award of punitive damages if the act complained of was not voluntary. TROs are a somewhat different matter, as they are generally designed to protect the plaintiff rather than to punish the defendant. This is a very interesting issue, but I don't have the specialized knowledge needed to give you a useful answer off the top of my head. I suspect that relatively few attorneys do, and the odds that one of them will have read your message are pretty slim.

As to criminal liability, that will depend on the specific facts of your case. Criminal liability only applies to voluntary, knowing actions (this is why insanity, if proven, is a defense to criminal charges), and if your case involves actions which were involuntary then this should preclude criminal liability. My sense is that bipolar disorder does not rise to the level of insanity or other types of condition which might render an individual unable to control his or her actions, but psychiatric expert opinion may be necessary here.

The ADA seems unlikely to apply here. The ADA is designed to prevent discrimination against the disabled, not to shield them from accountability for acts for which they would otherwise be responsible. It is possible that the defendant was not responsible for the acts you describe, but the ADA will play no part in this determination.