Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida

Injunction Issued For Stalking

My brother's ex-girlfriend was granted an injunction against him for stalking based on violations of the second part of section 784.048 number (2)(...willful, malicious and repeated harassment...). They both work for the same company and the problems between them started soon after he broke off their relationship of a few months. During the injunction hearing, he produced seven witnesses he subpoenaed that knew them both. They each testified they had never seen or heard any harassment from him. She produced no witnesses or credible physical evidence to corroborate her allegations. The injunction was requested based on 1)A threatening e-mail sent to her that contained no identification of the sender. Police traced it back to a public library, not to the actual person who sent it. 2) A single phone call he made to her as a result of a dispute at work. They both agreed the content of the call was non-threatening. 3) Her unsubstantiated claim that almost every Monday morning he verbally harassed her.

My question is: How should he approach the appeal? How do you defend yourself against accusations that can't be proven or unproven? Is the burden on him to prove he didn't do something or is it on her to prove he did?


Asked on 8/17/00, 10:26 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Verbit Stephen R. Verbit, P.A.

Re: Injunction Issued For Stalking

Your brother is in kind of a no-win situation here. You have to understand that, regardless of the evidence, in most cases the trial judge risks nothing by issuing this kind of injunction. She wants him to leave her alone. And his defense is that he isn't harrassing her and never did. Therefore, the trial judge's analysis might be along these lines: I really don't know what the truth is here, but if I issue the injunction, my butt is covered in case the guy really is harrassing her. And if the guy is telling the truth that he hasn't harrassed her and has no intention of doing so, then an injunction to stay away from her should not be a problem since he intends to stay away from her anyway.

The appeals court will probably look at it the same way, and in addition, they defer to the trial judge as to the credibility of witnesses. If your brother is going to appeal, he better have a very compelling argument as to why the injunction should be removed. You did not give the terms of the injunction, but such an argument might be if the terms are impossible for him to comply with for some reason, such as a requirement that he stay a certain distance away from her but doesn't make an exception for when they have to work together, which might mean he has to find another job.

You have to come up with some reason for the appeals court to feel sorry for your brother having this injunction against him. Is there something about his career that would make having a record of this injunction a particular hardship? Does the injunction itself impose some inordinate burden or hardship on him?

If it's just a matter of him coming in and saying there wasn't enough evidence to justify it, and he's basically just pissed off about it, his chances of success are slim to none. But if you can give the court a feeling that some grave injustice or hardship has been created, you might have a chance.

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Answered on 9/22/00, 5:04 pm


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