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Tools to fight online harassment

Nevada: Restraining Orders

Contents

  1. Domestic Violence
  2. Harassment/Stalking

  1. Domestic Violence

    1. Introduction

      A victim of domestic violence can obtain a restraining order prohibiting his/her aggressor from performing specific acts. If a victim of the nonconsensual publication of private, intimate images has a relationship as specified in Nev. Rev. Stat. § 33.018(1) with the person who published the images, s/he may seek a domestic violence restraining order against the person on harassment grounds. Upon the Court’s determination, obtaining such an order may also entitle the victim to child and/or spousal support from the adverse party while the restraining order is in effect.1

    2. Text of Statute

      Nev. Rev. Stat. § 33.018

      “1. Domestic violence occurs when a person commits one of the following acts against or upon the person’s spouse or former spouse, any other person to whom the person is related by blood or marriage, any other person with whom the person is or was actually residing, any other person with whom the person has had or is having a dating relationship, any other person with whom the person has a child in common, the minor child of any of those persons, the person’s minor child or any other person who has been appointed the custodian or legal guardian for the person’s minor child:

      (a) A battery.

      (b) An assault.

      (c) Compelling the other person by force or threat of force to perform an act from which the other person has the right to refrain or to refrain from an act which the other person has the right to perform.

      (d) A sexual assault.

      (e) A knowing, purposeful or reckless course of conduct intended to harass the other person. Such conduct may include, but is not limited to:

      (1) Stalking.

      (2) Arson.

      (3) Trespassing.

      (4) Larceny.

      (5) Destruction of private property.

      (6) Carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

      (7) Injuring or killing an animal.

      (f) A false imprisonment.

      (g) Unlawful entry of the other person’s residence, or forcible entry against the other person’s will if there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to the other person from the entry.”2

      Nev. Rev. Stat. § 33.020

      “1. If it appears to the satisfaction of the court from specific facts shown by a verified application that an act of domestic violence has occurred or there exists a threat of domestic violence, the court may grant a temporary or extended order. A temporary or extended order must not be granted to the applicant or the adverse party unless the applicant or the adverse party has requested the order and has filed a verified application that an act of domestic violence has occurred or there exists a threat of domestic violence.”3

      Nev. Rev. Stat. § 33.030

      “1. The court by a temporary order may:

      (a) Enjoin the adverse party from threatening, physically injuring or harassing the applicant or minor child, either directly or through an agent;

      (b) Exclude the adverse party from the applicant’s place of residence;

      (c) Prohibit the adverse party from entering the residence, school or place of employment of the applicant or minor child and order the adverse party to stay away from any specified place frequented regularly by them;

      (d) If it has jurisdiction under chapter 125A of NRS, grant temporary custody of the minor child to the applicant;

      (e) Enjoin the adverse party from physically injuring, threatening to injure or taking possession of any animal that is owned or kept by the applicant or minor child, either directly or through an agent;

      (f) Enjoin the adverse party from physically injuring or threatening to injure any animal that is owned or kept by the adverse party, either directly or through an agent; and

      (g) Order such other relief as it deems necessary in an emergency situation.”4

    3. Cases

      Research is ongoing.

    4. Practice Pointers

      The court may also order the adverse party to pay the victim’s costs and fees, as well as any lost earnings and expenses incurred as a result of bringing the action.5

      A victim seeking a domestic violence restraining order may also bring “any other available civil or criminal action” against the adverse party.6

    1. See Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 33.030 and 33.035(1). ↩
    2. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 33.018 (LexisNexis 2011). ↩
    3. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 33.020 (LexisNexis 2011). ↩
    4. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 33.030 (LexisNexis 2011). ↩
    5. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 33.030(2)(c)(5) (LexisNexis 2011). ↩
    6. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 33.040 (LexisNexis 2011). ↩
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  2. Harassment/Stalking

    1. Introduction

      Depending on the circumstances of the situation, a victim of the nonconsensual publication of his/her private, intimate images may also seek a restraining order based on harassment and/or stalking against the person who published the images. Unlike a domestic violence restraining order, a harassment or stalking restraining order is not limited in its scope by the relationship between the victim and the adverse party and only requires either 1) the threatening of the victim with bodily injury, physical damage to property, physical confinement, or an act “intended to substantially harm the [victim] or any other person[’s]” physical or mental health or safety1, or 2) that the victim “feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, harassed or fearful for the immediate safety of a family or household member” by the adverse party’s conduct.2

    2. Text of Statute and Elements of a Claim

      Nev. Rev. Stat. § 200.591

      “1. In addition to any other remedy provided by law, a person who reasonably believes that the crime of stalking, aggravated stalkingsee Nev. Rev. Stat. § 200.575(1) and (2). or harassment3 is being committed against him or her by another person may petition any court of competent jurisdiction for a temporary or extended order directing the person who is allegedly committing the crime to:

      (a) Stay away from the home, school, business or place of employment of the victim of the alleged crime and any other location specifically named by the court.

      (b) Refrain from contacting, intimidating, threatening or otherwise interfering with the victim of the alleged crime and any other person named in the order, including, without limitation, a member of the family or the household of the victim of the alleged crime.

      (c) Comply with any other restriction which the court deems necessary to protect the victim of the alleged crime or to protect any other person named in the order, including, without limitation, a member of the family or the household of the victim of the alleged crime.4

      In Nevada, a plaintiff “seeking a temporary restraining order must establish: (1) a likelihood of success on the merits, (2) a likelihood of irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, (3) that the balance of equities tips in his/her favor, and (4) an injunction is in the public interest.”5

    3. Cases

      1. Goldsmith v. Cooper, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121705 (D. Nev. Oct. 29, 2010)

        • Procedural Posture: Motion for ex parte temporary restraining order and application for hearing on preliminary injunction on an order shortening time.

        • Law: Temporary restraining order

        • Relevant Facts: Plaintiff alleged that defendants published defamatory statements about him on Facebook and “engaged in a pattern of stalking him.”6 Plaintiff sought a temporary restraining order against Defendants to “prevent ‘Defendants from further using Plaintiff’s name and likeness to publish discriminatory, slanderous, misleading and false information about Plaintiff and preventing Defendants from further stalking and harassing Plaintiff in contravention with Nevada and Federal law.’”7

        • Outcome: The Court denied Plaintiff’s motion for failing to show “good cause why the matter was submitted to the court without notice to all parties” and for failing “to establish that the balance of equities tip[ped] in his favor and an injunction [was] in the public interest.”8

    4. Practice Pointers

      Notice to the adverse party is not necessary to obtain a temporary restraining order.9

      Harassment requires the adverse party to threaten the victim, whereas stalking only requires the victim to feel terrorized or harassed by the adverse party’s conduct. Under Nevada’s stalking statute, Nev. Rev. Stat. § 200.575, the victim’s reaction to the adverse party’s conduct is held to a reasonable person standard.

    1. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.571 (LexisNexis 2011)(“harassment”). ↩
    2. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.575(1) (LexisNexis 2011)(“stalking”). ↩
    3. See Nev. Rev. Stat. § 200.571. ↩
    4. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.591 (LexisNexis 2011). ↩
    5. Goldsmith v. Cooper, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121705, *3 (D. Nev. Oct. 29, 2010)(citing Winter v. NRDC, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008)). ↩
    6. Id. at *3. ↩
    7. Id. at *3. ↩
    8. Id. at *5-6. ↩
    9. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.591 (LexisNexis 2011). ↩
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