Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Domestic Violence
Florida courts have routinely held that it is inappropriate to use a Florida domestic violence injunction to attempt to keep the peace between neighbors. When neighbors feud, this can cause stress and disturb a person’s quiet enjoyment of his or her home. However, this disturbance may not be enough to support a Florida domestic violence injunction. We review this in the case Cash v. Gagnon, 4D19-1302 (Fla. 4th DCA November 4, 2020).
The parties resided in the same condominium building, and their feud began when one neighbor (whom we will refer to as neighbor 1) was elected to the condo association’s board of directors and the other (whom we will refer to as neighbor 2) was not. Neighbor 1 alleged several incidents in which neighbor 2 aggressively confronted neighbor 1 while cursing and yelling. In one incident it was alleged neighbor 2 revved his car engine at neighbor 1 and in yet another incident, blocked neighbor 1 from leaving an elevator. Neighbor 1 therefore filed an injunction for protection against domestic violence, alleging he was in fear of becoming a victim of domestic violence at the hands of neighbor 2.
The trial court granted the injunction and neighbor 2 appealed. The appellate court found there was insufficient evidence to support the entry of the injunction, reasoning that only one of the incidents - the elevator incident - could qualify as domestic violence, but none of the others could because they served a legitimate purpose. Specifically, neighbor 2 was complaining about issues related to residing in the condo, which were within the domain of the association’s board. Although he complained aggressively and rudely, this did not qualify as a basis to enter an injunction. Since neighbor 1 could not prove the required two incidents needed to support the injunction, the appellate court reversed.
The appellate court held “Although the encounter between [neighbor 1] and [neighbor 2] in the elevator can be considered a qualifying incident, the rest of the alleged conflicts are merely uncomfortable neighborly disputes that do not rise to the level of stalking. See Caterino, 276 So. 3d at 94 (quoting Shocki v. Aresty, 994 So. 2d 1131, 1134 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008) (‘[N]oise, profanity, and claims of vandalism to property do not always warrant injunctive relief under the stalking and repeat violence statutes.’)). As this court has repeated on many occasions, section 784.048 ‘does not allow the trial court to enter injunctions simply 'to keep the peace' between parties who, for whatever reason, are unable to get along and behave civilly towards each other.’ Klemple v. Gagliano, 197 So. 3d 1283, 1286 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016) (quoting Power v. Boyle, 60 So. 3d 496, 498 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)). For this reason, we reverse the injunction entered against Cash.”
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