Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Domestic Violence

“A person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks another person commits the offense of stalking . . . .” under § 784.048(2), Fla. Stat. ‘Harass means to engage in a course of conduct directed at a specific person which causes substantial emotional distress to that person and serves no legitimate purpose”, according to § 784.048(1)(a), Fla. Stat. A stalking injunction was the subject of the case Kendrick v. Glover, 1D20-104 (Fla. 1st DCA April 9, 2021).

The parties were previously married but had been divorced for 20 years. However, they continued to have issues, resulting in the former wife filing a petition for protection against stalking, alleging the former husband stalked her as follows: “1) Appellant directed his attorney to serve court documents at Appellee’s new residential address that she hadn’t previously disclosed (which Appellant discovered through online research); 2) Appellant sent a social media friend request to Appellee; and 3) Appellant contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office related to an employment litigation matter involving Appellee (and that didn’t involve him) to report his belief that Appellee had filed false financial affidavits. An additional allegation was made that Appellant visited the home of Appellee’s significant other and showed him boxes of old pictures and letters. Appellee sought a domestic violence injunction alleging that these activities constituted stalking.” An injunction was entered against the former husband based on these allegations and he appealed.

The appellate court reversed, reasoning that none of the allegations raised by the former wife amounted to stalking. Specifically, the court found that it could not be said the former husband’s actions did not serve a legitimate purpose or that they were harassing in nature. The court held the while the former wife might find the actions “distasteful” or “annoying”, “[T]he evidence does not show willful, malicious, and repeated harassment sufficient to cause a reasonable person to suffer emotional distress.”

A stalking injunction requires the petitioner to allege and prove specific conduct. For help with a domestic violence case contact a Miami family law attorney.