On August 10, 2011, the Oregon Court of Appeals decided Sacomano v. Burns.
The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision to continue a restraining order after a hearing. The court found that, although the respondent had sent the petitioner harassing text messages, and had threatened to expose damaging information about her to the public, he had not placed her in fear of imminent bodily injury, which is the standard under the Family Abuse Prevention Act.
There almost needs to be separate types of restraining orders – one type to protect from physical abuse and another type to protect from harassment like the kind suffered by petitioner in this case.