Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois

My husband and I own our own consulting business and have long standing issues with a relative (my sister). We are estranged by choice and have made it clear in a direct email sent to her early in 2009 after we received harrassing emails and letters about our lives, care for our parents before they passed and handling of family financial matters that we want absolutely no contact with her. She has forwarded similar emails to family and friends with these accusations. After making it clear to cease all contact, we started receiving odd messages from her through our business website referencing our online business communications. We contacted the email provider and asked that they block messages from her IP address through our website. We also put a block on our email address so she cannot contact us directly. Over the past year, we have found over 70 visits to our business website from her IP address, which our statistics show has been accessed from our business networks such as Twitter and Linkedin, as well as Google searches using my full name or our business name. She accesses our blog multiple times at another site. There is no legitimate business reason or connection between her life and ours, or her professional life and our business. She has also performed background checks on both my husband and I and reported findings about a minor family incident 19 years ago to other family members--perhaps others--implying that we are violent. We don't have so much as a parking ticket, let alone criminal or any illegal activity in our lives. We have maintained records of her communications and online surveilance, and are ready to issue a restrainting order, but wonder if that is enough or if her behavior warrants a lawsuit. We thought her behavior would calm down over time, but it has gotten worse. She implies that we need psychiatrists, that we are dishonest and physically attacked our children. We are also concerned with her interfering with our business and business life. I am emotionally and mentally stressed by her constant surveilance. What are our options? I'm not even sure what kind of law this is, General Civil Litigation? We live in Illinois and my sister lives in Texas. Thank you!


Asked on 2/21/11, 11:29 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

You could try to seek injunctive relief that if granted and she violates the terms, could result in her being cited for contempt of court, but you're talking a LOT of money and with the distance involved more complications. For general civil litigation you need to show some kind of damages, and typically that would be economic, like her behavior is actually costing you something.

Read more
Answered on 2/22/11, 11:23 am


Related Questions & Answers

More General Civil Litigation questions and answers in Illinois