Quote: (11-25-2012 03:51 AM)Merenguero Wrote:
Excellent post. This is an area of the law with which I am very familiar, although I have not been dealing with it as much in the past few years as I had been in the past. These types of orders, known in my state as Protective Orders and Peace Orders, seem to be quite a problem in the D.C. area. I think every girl I have ever met in the D.C. area has either had Peace Orders or Protective Orders issued against her or has had them issued against someone else at some point.
In my state, Protective Orders are obtained against persons related by blood or marriage, persons with whom you have a child in common, and against cohabitants. A cohabitant is a person with whom you are engaged in a sexual relationship and with whom you have resided for at least several months. Peace Orders are obtained against all other persons. A Protective Order can remain in effect for up to a year and can be extended for periods of six months. Peace Orders can remain in effect for up to six months and can also be extended for periods of six months. In order to obtain either of these types of orders, you generally have to prove some type of assault or an act which placed you in fear of imminent serious bodily harm by clear and convincing evidence. Peace Orders cover several acts not covered by Protective Orders, such as harassment. People love to throw around the word "harassment," but in reality, it is an act which is very rarely proven. Most of the traffic is some form of assault or acts which place one in fear of serious imminent bodily harm.
The O.P. shows an extensive familarity of this subject matter. Temporary Orders may be obtained ex parte. In my state the standard of proof for a Temporary Order is extremely low. If the Petitioner and Respondent share the same workplace, as the O.P. mentioned, this can create problems. In many cases, the judge can create an exception for the parties to have contact for purposes of employment while the Temporary Order is pending. In some cases, the judge for whatever reason does not make such an exception. A solution to this problem can be that after the Respondent is served with the Temporary Order, he may try to file a Motion to Modify the Temporary Order to allow contact while the Temporary Order is pending. Many of life's problems can be fixed by filing Motions.
As far as having the Respondent served with the Temporary Order, it may be a good idea to find out what law enforcement agency is serving her or better yet, what officer is serving her and give the officer all your contact information and all of the information you have on the person who is to be served. In my experience, this can make a huge difference.
The O.P. also mentioned that parties who are served with Temporary Orders file their own Petitions in retaliation. This is entirely true. Judges are well aware of this and often consider the person who filed his own Petition in retaliation to be less credible than the original Petitioner. Judges often look to the amount of time which passed between the acts alleged by the person filing the retaliatory Petition and the date of the filing of the retaliatory Petition. In Protective Order cases, there is no time limit between the time of the acts and the time in which one must file the Petition. I have seen people allege acts which occurred years before the filing. In Peace Order cases, the Petition must be filed within thirty days of the alleged act.
Characteristics of women who are likely to file these types of Petitions in addition to those which the O.P. mentioned are women who have been divorced multiple times, women who have filed such Petitions and/or had such Petitions filed against them in the past, and women who have had alcohol-related traffic offenses and/or drug offenses (I know the O.P. mentioned a criminal background). Also, if the other party has been convicted of impeachable offenses (theft, forgery, most felonies) this can be used to impeach her credibility.
One thing I believe the O.P. left out was that if a girl is a real lunatic and you want her to leave you alone, you should always give her written notice to not contact you. This can be done by text message, e-mail, and regular mail.
@ Merenguero
Let's say I wanted to do a little PI work and see if my new girlfriend had a history of civil litigation. I know this is technically public record, however, it seems to be quite difficult to uncover dockets from other states in real time from my home computer. For example:
I am dating Mary. I know Mary lived in portland oregon from 2009-2011. Mary has a unique last name.
Other than going to the physical trial court in Oregon, how can I view/search for these dockets?