Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Hi,
My ex recently accused me of domestic violence (primarily harassment) and filed to have a permanent restraining order against me. He claims that I am completely mentally unstable, that I have threatened his life, and that I am contacting him with aliases via email. I responded to the temporary restraining order with a personal statement that discusses that, for one: I am indeed emotionally stable especially since the break-up was last year; I have an appointment for a psych eval to prove it and will have the assessment by the hearing date; two: I explained why he incorrectly assumes I threatened him as I explained that when I saw him, I left unnoticed and only texted him that I had a desire to harm him when I saw him; three: I pointed out that he could check IP addresses in the email to show I did not send him the alleged emails. Because of my job is on the line if this goes through and because it will disqualify me from various educational, financial, and career opportunities, I am especially worried. How likely will a judge me sympathetic to me?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Such 'Domestic Violence' allegations are taken seriously by courts. They frequently result in 'mutual' Restraining Orders being imposed on BOTH parties, to keep the peace, if they go to court. The courts will err on the side of caution, and prefer to impose RO's in error, rather than fail to impose one where necessary. The judges don't want to read in the next day's paper about someone dying because they couldn't get an RO to protect them. If you are serious about defending this, and avoiding a RO being ordered, you have a huge burden of proof to meet. A doctor's report is a start, but you will need multiple credible witnesses and evidence to demonstrate that he is lying, that you have not threatened or harassed him, that you will not be a threat in the future, and that there is no reason for the court to impose it on you. If you think you can meet that burden, and are willing to spend the time and fees necessary to have an attorney represent you in 'trying', feel free to contact me.
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