You have been served with a civil harassment restraining order (CHRO). Maybe a neighbor, landlord, coworker, or former friend has filed a petition against you. A judge may already have issued temporary orders without first hearing from you based on the petition and declarations. A hearing is usually set within about three weeks. The accusations may omit context, distort events, or make claims you dispute. The papers do not always make clear what is at stake which is that this is a serious evidentiary hearing or trial and a final order can last up to five years.
Civil harassment restraining orders can be successfully defended. The petitioner must prove statutory harassment by clear and convincing evidence. In many cases, the dispute has a longer history than the petition shows. Generally a good defense requires one to identify the legal issues, preserve the record, and give the court a clear, credible account of what actually happened.
This article is the respondent’s guide to a civil harassment restraining order. It addresses what you are facing, what to do first, the defenses that matter, the evidence rules that surprise people, and when filing a cross-petition may make sense.
Defending A CHRO: The Short Answer
Treat the petition as a serious expedited evidentiary hearing or trial. Follow every term of any temporary order as a knowing and intentional violation can be a crime and can damage your credibility. Preserve the records that show what actually happened including messages, emails, recordings, photographs, and witnesses. Hire an attorney and move quickly to prepare. A respondent is entitled to one reasonable continuance as a matter of course but additional continuances may be granted only for good cause. Consider a cross-petition if the facts independently support filing your own CHRO petition.
What You Are Facing In A CHRO Case
A CHRO petition often comes with a temporary restraining order entered ex parte, based only on the petitioner’s sworn filings. The hearing is generally set within 21 days, or 25 days for good cause. At the hearing, the court decides whether to issue an order that may last up to five years. Information about a granted order is transmitted for entry into the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS). A granted order also carries firearm restrictions and potential criminal consequences for a knowing violation. It may have employment or licensing consequences, depending on the employer, profession, and type of background check. The hearing is a real trial so organize your exhibits, know the facts, understand your opponent and your narrative, and be prepared to present a credible defense.
The First Moves In Defending A CHRO
The opening days matter as do the terms of the temporary restraining order (TRO).
Comply with the TRO absolutely. However unfair the temporary restraining order (TRO) may feel follow it to the letter. Do not make direct or indirect contact if the order prohibits contact. Do not ask friends or family to speak for you to the protected party. Only your attorney may speak to the protected party or their attorney if they have one. Do not violate a stay-away or distance requirement that is listed in the CHRO. A knowing, intentional violation may be prosecuted and can seriously harm your credibility. If the order creates a practical problem like shared spaces, work, children, or belongings ask your attorney to raise it with the court.
Do not contact the petitioner to explain or fix the misunderstanding. Even a well- intended message can violate an order or become new evidence at the CHRO trial. Do not use mutual friends, family members, or social media as intermediaries to communicate messages to the protected party. Let your attorney handle any necessary communication and ask the court to address unavoidable logistics.
Preserve everything, immediately. Save the contemporaneous record and all evidence including texts, emails, voicemails, photographs, surveillance footage, and the names of witnesses. Preserve existing recordings, but do not make new secret recordings without legal advice as California law may prohibit recording a confidential communication without the consent of all parties.
Calendar the hearing and retain an attorney now. These CHRO cases move quickly as they are intended to be expedited proceedings. A respondent is entitled to only one continuance as a matter of course for a reasonable period and either party may seek an additional continuance only for good cause. If the hearing is continued, the temporary order generally remains in effect unless the court changes or terminates it. You should begin preparing promptly with your attorney after being served with a CHRO.
Defending A CHRO
| Defense | The Move | Where To Find |
|---|---|---|
| The Burden | Hold the petitioner to clear and convincing evidence on each required element. | |
| The Elements | For a course-of-conduct claim, require knowing and willful conduct directed at the petitioner that seriously alarms, annoys, or harasses; a pattern of acts; substantial emotional distress; and no legitimate purpose. Protected activity is excluded. A petition may instead allege unlawful violence or a credible threat. | |
| The Forward-Looking Requirement | Past conduct alone is not enough unless the evidence supports a likelihood of future harassment. | Russell v. Douvan (2003) 112 Cal.App.4th 399. |
| The Wrong Forum | The CHRO procedure cannot decide property rights or accomplish an eviction. But a property dispute does not itself defeat a properly supported petition. | Byers v. Cathcart (1997) 57 Cal.App.4th 805; Marquez- Luque v. Marquez (1987) 192 Cal.App.3d 1513. |
| Chronology And Credibility | Build a timeline from contemporaneous records. The chronology may test the petitioner’s account and credibility. | |
| The Cross-Petition | Consider a cross-petition. Each party must prove a separate case; related petitions may be heard together. | |
| Fees | The prevailing party may request court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees; the award is discretionary. | Code Civ. Proc., § 527.6(s). |
Three defenses deserve further explanation.
Property disputes and the wrong forum. When a petition is really aimed at possession of a residence, an eviction, a boundary, or an easement, make the point to the court clearly. The expedited CHRO procedure is not a substitute for an unlawful-detainer, quiet-title, or other property action. It cannot decide property rights or remove a tenant. That does not end the analysis because the court can still issue an order if the petitioner proves statutory harassment in the context of a property dispute. However, often a petitioner may take a legitimate property dispute into a CHRO hearing in order to try expedite relief that would take longer in at the proper property dispute forum.
Chronology and credibility. A petition often gives the court the first account of a conflict but that does not make it the complete or account account. In some cases, the timeline shows that important events, communications, or context came first and were omitted from the petition.
Do not let outrage drive your defense. Gather evidence with your attorney that establishes chronology. Contemporaneous documents – for instance the email sent before the accusation which is the message that records what was said and when—often carry special weight because they were created before anyone knew there was going to be a case to build.
The cross-petition decision. If the facts independently support a CHRO petition, a respondent may file a cross-petition against the petitioner. Related petitions may be heard together but each party must prove its own case to get a CHRO. A cross-petition must be supported by evidence and strategically justified. In some cases, the stronger position is to defeat a weak petition and ask the court for discretionary costs and attorney’s fees rather than filing one’s own cross-petition.
The Evidence Rules That Surprise People: Hearsay Is Admissible
Many people – and even some lawyers – are surprised that civil-harassment hearings can include hearsay. The statute directs the judge to receive relevant testimony and allows an independent inquiry as to what that is. The Court of Appeal has held that this language permits hearsay in a section 527.6 hearing. In Duronslet v. Kamps, the court held that the statute’s direction to receive relevant testimony encompasses hearsay. (Duronslet v. Kamps (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 717).
That does not end the evidentiary analysis as the court must still decide whether the evidence is reliable enough to meet the clear-and-convincing standard. The defense should test secondhand accounts against contemporaneous documents, live testimony, and available cross-examination. Declarations, police-report narratives, and other hearsay statements attributed to absent witnesses may be admitted, but their source and corroboration still matter. The defense may also offer relevant hearsay to help establish the chronology or explain what was reported and when.
The Civil Harassment Restraining Order Hearing
The hearing is where the case is decided so if the case cannot be resolved beforehand, the judge will decide it on the evidence presented. Prepare it seriously as the serious trial that it is. Organize exhibits, identify witnesses, prepare testimony, and develop a clear theory of the case. Do not assume a weak petition will fail on its own without a vigorous defense.
A Past Case At Vijay Law
Vijay Law has handled numerous CHRO matters for both petitioners and respondents. In one past case, we represented a tenant renting a room in a house occupied by the landlord. The tenant had a one-year lease. A conflict developed after the landlord demanded a rent increase that the tenant believed was contrary to the lease. The tenant could not afford the increase and was told to leave.
Then the conflict between landlord and tenant escalated. The tenant reported that the landlord threatened her with a knife and again told her to leave. She was reluctant to call police, but she sent an email to her landlord stating that the rent could not be raised under her lease, that she could not afford the increase, and that she would call police if the knife threat happened again.
Shortly after the email, the landlord called police and alleged that the tenant had been making verbal threats. The police did not interview our client at that point. The landlord then filed a civil harassment petition and asked the court to remove our client from the house. The court issued a temporary order but denied the removal request as that request required an eviction action, not a civil-harassment order.
That is when our client came to us to represent her. We filed a cross-petition based on her own allegations of threats, including the knife threat. At the hearing, establishing chronology was central to the outcome of the case. The email was created before the landlord’s police call and petition. It documented the alleged knife threat, the rent dispute, and our client’s measured response before our client had any reason to believe there ever would be a case to present in court. The timing gave the court a fuller record to evaluate both petitions. After hearing all the evidence, the court granted our client’s restraining order and denied the landlord’s.
The case shows why contemporaneous records and careful preparation matter enormously in these cases. A petition does not tell the whole story merely because it was filed first and often the best defense is the filing of one’s own cross-petition.
What Not To Do In Defending A CHRO
Some mistakes can create new problems or make a defensible case much harder in a CHRO.
Do not contact the petitioner directly or indirectly if the order prohibits contact. Do not violate any TRO term because it seems minor. Do not skip the hearing as the court may hear the petitioner’s evidence without your response and issue a final order against you. Do not testify unprepared or use the hearing to vent to the court. Bring organized documents, answer the question asked, and stay focused. If possible, retain a qualified attorney to prepare and present the case.
Frequently Asked Questions About Defending A CHRO
I Was Served With A Civil Harassment TRO. How Serious Is This?
Quite serious. Temporary orders are in force against you. A knowing, intentional violation of any order in the TRO can be a crime. The hearing is generally held within about three weeks, and a final order after hearing can last up to five years. A granted order is entered into law- enforcement databases, carries firearm restrictions, and may affect employment or licensing. You should begin preparing promptly and carefully with your attorney.
Can I Get More Time To Prepare?
Yes. A respondent has one continuance as of right for a reasonable period. Either party may request more time but only for good cause. Unless the court orders otherwise, a temporary restraining order remains in effect through the continued hearing. Use any additional time that you get from the court to retain an attorney and prepare.
Is Hearsay Really Allowed At The Hearing?
Yes. California courts have held that hearsay may be admitted at a civil-harassment restraining order hearing. However, the fact that evidence is hearsay evidence generally makes that evidence less reliable than non-hearsay evidence which courts weigh in making a decision. You should certainly challenge the reliability and weight of the evidence with contemporaneous documents, live testimony, and available cross-examination.
The Petition Is Really About Getting Me Out Of The House. Does That Matter?
It can. A civil-harassment proceeding cannot accomplish an eviction or decide property rights. However a property dispute alone does not defeat a petition supported by evidence of statutory harassment. Identify the real dispute and separate it from the conduct at issue.
Should I File My Own Civil Harassment Petition?
Sometimes. Consider a cross-petition only when facts independently support a CHRO petition after conferring with your attorney. Related petitions may be heard together, but each party must prove its own claim. Make the decision early and support it with evidence.
What Happens If I Win?
If the petition is denied, no final restraining order issues. The prevailing party may request costs and reasonable attorney’s fees, but the award is discretionary.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. If you have been served with a restraining order petition, consult a qualified attorney immediately.