In the attached domestic violence injunction cas, after more than ten years, the Respondent asked that the Injunction be dissolved. The trial judge denied the request, but the appellate court ruled that the request should have been granted because the trial court used the wrong standard. The Respondent is serving a long prison sentence with an anticipated release date that is decades away. The prison term constitutes a change in circumstances that eliminated the scenario underlying the injunction which was Respondent’s man-handling of the Petitioner ten years ago. The trial court commented that the injunction appeared to be working as there had not been recent contact between the parties, but under the applicable legal standard, the court erred in denying Spaulding’s motion to dissolve because he is incarcerated, he is not likely to be released anytime soon, and he has not had any contact with the Petitioner for over ten years. Rather than remanding, the appellate court reversed the denial.
Read More: Spaulding-v-Shane