Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois

The law might not be the best answer.

Let�s start by dispensing with the idea that the law is going to adequately protect you from badgering. Whether it�s in a school hallway or on a public street, your friends can bug you to your face, ridicule you to others, or just behave like jerks toward you, and if they don�t cross the line (there are many lines), they�ll get away with it legally. We don�t take action (civil or criminal) against someone for being or behaving like a jerk (the courtrooms or America would be packed).

Worse, a vengeful person could do things (e.g., wreck your stuff, egg your property, spray paint your garage door, etc.) and if it�s done surreptitiously and you have no real evidentiary proof they did it, you�ve got no practical legal way to stop it.

However, you can have privacy in your own home. The cause of action called �intrusion on seclusion� is based on there being. Showing up at your house would not be sufficient to sustain such a claim (it must be something offensive or objectionable to a reasonable man), but showing up high might possibly be, particularly if they know you object to that. If you file a suit, you�ll need to allege in a public document and be prepared to testify in a public courtroom that your friends are getting high. This can be pretty alienating and could lead to you being a target for harassment.

As an alternative, your parents (or other owner of the house or signor of the lease where you live) have the right to make you home off limits to anyone, including any of your friends. If a person has notice from the lawful possessor of property not to enter upon the property, and they enter anyway, it is a trespass. The police can be called (a criminal trespass) or a civil action in trespass can be brought to enjoin your friends from entering the property. In such an action, the property owner (your parents) would not need to allege, testify to, or even know that your friends are getting high. The problem with trespass as an answer is that it�s nearly impossible for you to tell your parents to give and then rescind notice over and over again, depending upon whether or not your friends are high at the moment. That means your friends would likely be barred from entering on your parents property ALL the time, even when your friends aren�t high.

More to the point is that you call them �friends.� You need a different answer, one which maintains your friendship (and retains the positive influence you may have with them) while giving you peace at home. The law, whether criminal or civil, is not the best answer in a case like this. It is too rigid and comes with too many unwanted side effects. And a courtroom judge is not the best day-to-day monitor in an ever-changing situation.

Perhaps the best solution is the one you are now using -- �I have to shut the door on their face.� May I recommend you call upon a responsible adult you trust to help you with this?