Articles Posted in Restraining Orders

BP is a contractor who builds expensive houses. He entered into a contract to build a house for JW, a wealthy businessman. Three days before the sale was to take place there was a fire in the house. A dispute arose between BP and JW about what to do. JW filed a civil lawsuit against BP to force BP to rebuild the house and finish the sale. The lawsuit was not going well for JW. JW then filed for and obtained an emergency Harassment Prevention Order against BP. The order had a court hearing date of November 17, 2022 in Dedham District Court. JW claimed that on three occasions BP threatened him and on one of those occasions BP tried to run JW over with his truck. BP had a lawyer from a large Worcester-Boston law firm who was representing BP in the civil lawsuit. That lawyer referred BP to Attorney Robert Lewin of Andover to handle the Harassment Prevention Order case. BP met with Attorney Robert Lewin (over zoom) and hired Attorney Lewin.

Attorney Lewin thoroughly prepared the case. There were witnesses present during two of the three incidents. Attorney Lewin interviewed those witnesses and had them present at the court hearing. In addition, BP had taken a number of photos of JW; the photos were helpful because they showed JW following BP throughout the Town of Wellesley. In reality, those photos showed that JW was NOT in fear of BP.

Attorney Lewin prepared a lengthy Memorandum of Law for the Judge. On November 17, 2022 Attorney Lewin, BP, BP’s two witnesses, and JW and his lawyer appeared in Dedham District Court for the hearing. The Judge had read all the court papers including the Memorandum that Attorney Lewin had prepared. The hearing (really a trial) lasted 2 1/2 hours. Attorney Lewin had BP and his two witnesses testify and introduced into evidence the photos that BP had taken. At the end of the hearing the Judge ruled that JW had not met his burden of proof. The Judge vacated (terminated) the order forthwith (immediately).

TL, a police officer at a nearby university, lived in a second floor condo with his girlfriend in North Andover. A woman with a young child lived above TL in her own condo. TL worked nights and slept during a portion of the day. The noise coming from upstairs was extremely bothersome to TL. According to the upstairs neighbor TL would bang on the walls and yell profanity upstairs for the noise to stop.  This yelling and banging, according to the upstairs tenant, went on for months and frightened the tenant. On October 16, 2022 the upstairs tenant came down to the second floor and knocked on TL’s door. TL answered the door and an argument ensued. According to the upstairs tenant, TL grabbed her by the neck and shoved her up against the wall. TL’s girlfriend separated them. The upstairs tenant went back upstairs and called the police. The tenant was granted an emergency Harassment Prevention Order with a court date of October 31, 2022. TL sought out a lawyer and met with and hired Attorney Robert Lewin from Andover.

Attorney Lewin immediately spotted a  big hole in the Harassment Prevention Order case against TL. The law requires that there be 3 or more separate events of harassment before an order can be granted. In her Affidavit the tenant wrote a great deal about the alleged assault on October 16, 2022. She described other incidents where TL had yelled from his unit and has used profanity. Attorney Lewin had prepared and filed a Memorandum for the Judge to read. In his Memorandum Attorney Lewin stressed the requirement that there be THREE separate acts of willful and malicious conduct.

On October 31, 2022 Attorney Lewin, TL, TL’s girlfriend, and the upstairs tenant all appeared in Lawrence District Court for the hearing on whether or not the Harassment Prevention Order should be extended. The Judge immediately picked up on the issue that Attorney Lewin had raised in his Memorandum and the Judge questioned the tenant about any incidents other than the alleged assault on October 16, 2022.

JS, a 49 year old businessman from Essex County, was in a romantic dating relationship with CW, a 39 year old businesswoman also from Essex County. They began dating in 2015. In 2016 CW accused JS of Assault by means of a Dangerous Weapon, two counts of Assault & Battery, and one count of Grand Larceny. At that time JS consulted with and hired Attorney Robert Lewin from Andover to defend him against those charges. Attorney Lewin fully prepared that case for trial and on December 13, 2016 the case was called for trial. CW failed to appear and all the charges against JS were dismissed. Foolishly, JS took up again with CW and CW (and her young daughter) moved into JS’s house. For the next four years JS and CW lived together (with CW’s daughter). JS’s two sons (with whom he shared custody with his ex-wife) also spent a great deal of time at the house.

In April 2022, JS and CW broke up. On November 4, 2022 CW went into Newburyport District Court and obtained an ex-parte Abuse Prevention Order against JS. (An ex-parte order is an order that is granted by a judge after hearing only from the person seeking the order.) The order was served by the police on JS and had a hearing date of November 14, 2022. JS immediately called Attorney Robert Lewin and again hired Attorney Lewin to defend him against this Abuse Prevention Order.

JS was a terrific client and furnished Attorney Lewin with several years worth of emails and text messages and photographs that showed that CW was never afraid of JS and that they had had a loving relationship. She claimed in her application for the Abuse Prevention Order that he abused her over the years and that she lived in fear on him. The EVIDENCE showed that her claims were untrue.

JT, a 27 year old strikingly handsome black male, was in a romantic relationship with BN, a 36 year old very handsome white male. The two men looked as if they had come out of central casting for the bachelorette. JT broke off the relationship and BN did not take well to the break up. On May 24, 2021 BN went over to Newburyport District Court and obtained an “ex-parte” abuse prevention order against JT. An ex-parte order is an emergency order where the Judge hears only from the party seeking the order. The person against whom the order is sought does not know of the proceedings and is not present. On that same day, the Methuen Police served the order on JT at his parents home in Methuen. On the next day, May 25, 2021, after work, JT drove up to Newburyport District Court just before it closed at 4:30 and obtained a copy of the the papers from the restraining order case. JT then returned home arriving home shortly after 5:00 PM. JT remained at home the rest of the evening. At about 7:45 pm that same evening the police showed up at JT’s house and arrested him for violating the abuse prevention order that had been issued the day before. BN had claimed that JT was following him late that afternoon at a park in Boxford.

Unfortunately for BN, but fortunately for JT, JT’s cell phone tracks his whereabouts. The GPS trazcking data showed that JT had driven from Methuen to Newburyport and then from Newburyport back to Methuen with no side trips to Boxford. The GPS tracking data also showed that JT was in his home thereafter and did not leave and did not go to Boxford.

JT had hired a lawyer (not Attorney Lewin) and his case just sat. The communication between JT and the other lawyer was not good. Finally, JT sought out new counsel. JT met with and retained Attorney Robert Lewin from Andover. Attorney Lewin thoroughly reviewed and organized all the GPS data. Attorney Lewin thoroughly reviewed all the factual details with JT. Attorney Lewin interviewed JT’s family members who could testify that he was at home that evening.

UE, a 21 year old male college student, had worked with ND, a female in her mid-twenties, for a number of summers. In the summer of 2021 UE was let go from his work due to a poor performance review he had been given by ND. That poor performance review festered in UE’s mind for almost a year. In May of 2022 UE began sending ND and her superiors at the place of work a disturbing barrage of angry text messages. The messages threatened to accuse ND and her superiors of various crimes. The messages referred to ND using the “C” word and were laced with profanity. ND went to court and obtained an emergency harassment prevention order against UE. The order was served on UE and was scheduled for a hearing in Haverhill District Court on June 30, 2022.

UE’s parents contacted Attorney Robert Lewin from Andover. Attorney Lewin met with UE and his parents via zoom. UE’s parents retained Attorney Lewin. UE sent Attorney Lewin all the text messages that he had sent to ND and her superiors. The texts were disturbing; but Attorney Lewin noticed that the texts did not contain any threats to physically harm ND or to physically harm her property. Attorney Lewin explained to UE and his parents that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts had ruled that in order to grant an harassment prevention order based on fear, the person seeking the order must prove that they had been placed in fear of physical harm or fear of physical damage to property.

On June 30, 2022 (only four days after being retained) Attorney Lewin and UE and his parents appeared in Haverhill District Court. ND was also present. The case was called and ND got up and told the Judge about all the messages and gave the Judge a folder of all the text messages printed out. The Judge read the messages. The Judge turned to Attorney Lewin and asked if Attorney Lewin wanted to question ND. Attorney Lewin responded “I have just two questions”. Attorney Lewin turned toward ND and asked her if UE had ever threatened to cause her physical harm,. ND replied no. Attorney Lewin asked her if UE had ever threatened to physically harm her property. ND replied no.

AW and BD met about six months ago and fell in love. AW moved in with BD and life was grand. AW had been in a prior relationship with MA and AW and MA had a son – who is now age 25! AW’s relationship with MA had been on and off over the last 25 years. AW ended his relationship with MA for good about 2 years ago. MA did not take well to the end of the relationship and began a pattern of texting AW and BD. She (MA) had the ability to make her text messages appear as if they were coming from a phone number that was not hers. The text messages became more frequent and more threatening. MA even went so far as to send a text to BD’s employer saying that BD was a terrible employee. BD had a high level job at a major hi tech company and said enough is enough. BD filed for a harassment prevention order in Lawrence District Court and sought out a lawyer to represent her at the hearing. BD met with and hired Attorney Robert Lewin from Andover to prosecute her complaint for protection from harassment against MA. BD and Attorney Lewin spent many hours gathering all the text messages that MA had sent and made copies (42 pages of text messages) in preparation for the hearing. Attorney Lewin met at length with BD and AW and prepared them for testifying at the hearing.

On March 31, 2021 BD and AW and Attorney Lewin appeared at Lawrence District Court for the hearing. MA was also present and she had an attorney with her as well. BD testified as did AW and Attorney Lewin presented in evidence all the text messages and through the text of the messages themselves Attorney Lewin was able to establish that the messages had come from MA. MA herself testified and denied sending the messages. Attorney Lewin had obtained an affidavit that MA had signed in Peabody District Court. Her statements in that Affidavit directly contradicted her testimony in Lawrence District Court. The Judge in Lawrence District Court granted BD’s complaint for an Harassment Protection Order and stated from the bench at the end of the hearing that she found that MA had committed perjury. (That was win#1.)

Having lost in Lawrence District Court, MA went to Peabody District Court immediately after the hearing in Lawrence and filed for an Harassment Prevention Order against BD and for an Abuse Prevention Order against AW. “Hell hath no fury ….” BD and AW were served with notices of the complaints against them and they both  retained Attorney Lewin to defend them against the orders in Peabody District Court.

TP is a 34 year old sales manager working for an international company based in Massachusetts. He resides in Canada. In 2016 he was at the company headquarters in Massachusetts and went up to Salem on Halloween night. He met a married woman (NR) and they began a dating relationship. He would visit her when he was in MA and she made several trips to Canada to visit him. Well as luck would have it NR got pregnant and in August 2018 a baby daughter was born. DNA tests established that TP was the father. Their dating relationship continued and he developed a relationship with their daughter. He came to MA often and always spent most of the time here with his daughter. He had FaceTime visits with her almost daily. For Halloween 2020 TP came down to MA and spent ten days here. Most of that time was spent with his daughter – who is now 2+ years old. At the end of his ten day visit TP returned to Canada. When he got back NR told him that she was cutting off all of his contact with their daughter and that NR did not want him contacting her (NR). NR also said that she would not facilitate FaceTime visits with their daughter any longer.

TP was then served with a Notice from Lynn District Court that NR had applied for a restraining order against him and that a hearing was scheduled for Monday, December 14, 2020 via ZOOM. TP had commenced proceedings in the Probate Court to establish paternity and get visitation, but his Probate Court lawyer told TP that she did not handle restraining order cases in the District Court. TP contacted and retained Attorney Robert Lewin from Andover to represent him in Lynn District Court to defend against the Harassment Protection Order. Attorney Lewin immediately obtained copies of the Complaint for Protection and the Affidavit that NR had filed at Court. TP sent to Attorney Lewin all the text messages between TP and NR as well as some text messages that NR had sent to TP’s sister. These text messages were important because they clearly showed that NR had made absolutely no complaints to TP (or his sister) that TP was harassing NR. Attorney Lewin electronically filed all the text messages with the Court so that they could be used during the hearing before the Judge. Attorney Lewin also electronically served copies of the text messages on NR.

The Court hearing was scheduled for Monday, December 14, 2020. On Friday, December 11 and again on Sunday, December 13 Attorney Lewin and TP spent about 1 1/2 hours (each day) preparing for the Court hearing. TP was fully prepared to testify at the hearing and Attorney Lewin even told TP what to wear for the ZOOM hearing. At 10:00 AM on Monday, December 14, 2020 TP and Attorney Lewin and NR and her attorney appeared before the Judge via ZOOM. In order to get an Harassment Protection Order NR needed to prove three separate acts of willful and malicious conduct. NR’s affidavit itself did not allege or set forth three separate acts. When the case was called Attorney Lewin told the Judge that the Defense was ready. NR and her lawyer folded their tent and withdrew their request for an order.

On Tuesday, July 10 at 10:15 at night Attorney Robert Lewin was sitting at his desk and an email inquiry came into his inbox. It was a gentleman from Georgetown, MA who had to go to Haverhill District Court on Friday, July 13. The gentleman (whom we shall call SC) had been served with an Abuse Prevention Order that his former live-in girlfriend had taken out against him and it was scheduled for a hearing three days later. Attorney Lewin read the email and called SC at 10:30 that night. SC was floored that a lawyer would call him at 10:30 pm. SC and Attorney Lewin talked for about 1 hour. SC emailed Attorney Lewin paperwork. The next morning SC retained Attorney Lewin and Attorney Lewin went to work on the case. There was little time and much to do. Attorney Lewin obtained copies of the papers from the Haverhill District Court and on Wednesday afternoon spent two hours on the phone with SC going over all the evidence. On Thursday afternoon SC emailed Attorney Lewin a series of text messages that his ex-girlfriend had sent him. The ex was claiming that SC was a drunkard and was acting belligerently toward her and that their relationship had broken up in December 2017. She claimed that when he drank he was violent and she was afraid that he would hurt her. She claimed that they had not been intimate since December 2017.

On Friday, July 13, 2018 SC and Attorney Lewin and the ex-girlfriend and her lawyer appeared at Court. The case was called and the ex-girlfriend took the stand and began to tell her story to the Judge and even cried at one point. The Judge interrupted the girlfriend and was prepared to issue an order and Attorney Lewin demanded that there be a full hearing and that the Judge hear all the evidence. The Judge said fine, proceed with the hearing. The girlfriend testified that since early June she was afraid of SC. Attorney Lewin asked her if in late June she had sent SC a text offering to perform oral sex on SC if he would bring her home an iced coffee. She said she could not remember. Attorney Lewin presented her with her text message and asked her if she had sent it. She said yes. Attorney Lewin then asked her to read the text message to the Judge – she looked at the Judge and the Judge said read the message. She then read the message wherein she offered to give SC a blow job if he would bring her home an iced coffee. There was much more evidence that Attorney Lewin had, but the Judge intervened again and this time said that she could not issue an order. The Judge said that in order to issue an order the ex-girlfriend had the burden to prove that she had a reasonable fear of imminent serious physical harm from SC. The Judge said she could not make that finding in light of the evidence that Attorney Lewin had presented.

SC and Attorney Lewin left the Courtroom. SC was thrilled with the result – a result that Attorney Lewin had predicted to SC prior to the hearing. SC then turned to Attorney Lewin and thanked him and told Attorney Lewin that he would have paid Attorney Lewin twice what Attorney Lewin had charged him!

On April 30, 2018, JB, the mother of a fourth grade female student in a local Catholic School, went to Lawrence District Court and applied, on behalf of her 10 year old daughter,  for an Harassment Prevention Order against SM, the mother of another female student in the class. JB alleged that SM over a five month period had “continued to touch her daughter inappropriately” at school. JB further alleged that SM had bullied her daughter at school. And lastly JB allegd that on April 28, 2018 SM had called the police and made a false report against JB.

Upon the filing of her Complaint for an Harassment Prevention Order the Court sent out a notice to SM that there would be a hearing on May 8, 2018. SM sought out a lawyer and met with and hired Attorney Robert Lewin from North Andover, MA. Attorney Lewin immediately went over to Lawrence District Court and obtained a copy of the affidavit that JB filed when she applied for the Harassment Prevention Order. Attorney Lewin and SM went over the affidavit word by word. Every claim that JB made was false and Attorney Lewin and SM were able to build a defense. Attorney Lewin and SM had two lengthy trial preparation sessions in which Attorney Lewin explained the do’s and dont’s of testifying in court.

On May 8, 2018 SM and Attorney Lewin appeared in the Restraining Order Session at Lawrence District Court. JB was there with her lawyer. After a full hearing – which lasted about 30 minutes – the Judge ruled that JB had not proven that her daughter had been harassed by SM and the Judge DENIED JB’s request for an Harassment Prevention Order. The level of preparation of SM and Attorney Lewin’s thorough understanding of the Harassment Prevention Order law were readily apparent to everyone sitting in the Courtroom.

From January 2013 to May 2013 JA, a then 29 year old Hispanic male from Lawrence was in a relationship with DO, a 28 year old Hispanic woman also from Lawrence. The both worked in the same factory. In May 2013 they broke up when JA took a trip to the Dominican Republic. After the breakup they continued working in the same factory and DO wanted JA back. She would send him texts and then she started sending JA nude and very sexual pictures of herself. She would give JA notes at work. He had moved on and was with another woman and he rebuffed all her advances. DO herself was in a relationship with another man and was living with this other man but was still trying to get JA back. In 2018 DO complained at work that JA was harassing her and JA got fired. JA then took all the pictures and notes that DO had sent to JA and sent them to DO’s boyfriend. DO went to Lawrence District Court and applied for an Abuse Prevention Order against JA. JA was served with the temporary order and a hearing was set for May 1, 2018 in Lawrence District Court.

JA met with and hired Attorney Robert Lewin from North Andover. With the assistance of a translator JA was able to give Attorney Lewin all the facts of the case. JA and Attorney Lewin had two lengthy sessions where Attorney Lewin prepared JA to testify at the hearing. In addition, JA was able to obtain and bring to Attorney Lewin his phone and text records that showed all the calls and texts that DO had sent to JA. The case was fully prepared.

On May 1, 2018 JA and Attorney Lewin appeared in the Restraining Order session at Lawrence District Court. DO was there. DO testified and JA testified. Attorney Lewin showed the Judge all the nude pictures and text messages that DO had sent to JA from 2013 to 2018. There was NO believeable evidence that JA had placed DO in fear of imminent serious physical harm. That is the basis on which DO was seeking an order against JA. At the end of the hearing the Judge ruled in JA’s favor and denied DO’s request for a restraining order.

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