One of the reasons for the chronic failure of Team Kimberlin’s lawfare has been that they have continuously acted as if the laws rules of civil and criminal procedure should be as they want them to be rather than as they are. OTOH, playing by the rules has enabled some successful pushback against The Dread Deadbeat Pro-Se Kimberlin and his minions. This post from nine years ago today shows how playing by the rules in Hoge v. Schmalfeldt resulted in the first of a dozen restraining orders being issued against Schmalfeldt.

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Since there seems to be some bogus information about the Hoge v. Schmalfeldt case circulating on the Interwebs, I thought I’d lay it out simply. Here goes.

There were several elements that had to be proved in order for the peace order to be issued.

First, it had to be shown that Bill Schmalfeldt had engaged in one of the acts that can trigger a peace order. That was harassment in this case. In order to prove that he had engaged in harassment, I had to show that he engaged in a course of conduct designed to harass, alarm, or seriously annoy me and that he did it after being put on notice to stop communicating with me. I also had to show that he did it without any legal purpose. Let’s examine how that was proven.

Course of conduct. That requires more than a single act. In the first hearing in District Court, that was shown by a series of tweets sent over several days, a blog post, and material included in an Internet talk show, all of which Schmalfeldt acknowledged as his work. In the Circuit Court only tweets were introduced, but this time they ranged over a period of several months.

Harass, alarm, or seriously annoy. The contents of some of the tweets demonstrated an intention to harass. Some of them, in the context in which they were sent, could cause a reasonable person to be alarmed, and some of them were plainly annoying. Furthermore, the tweets were addressed to me and were sent after being placed on notice to stop.

Notice to stop communicating with me. A copy of the blog post and the tweet I sent to Bill Schmalfeldt were placed in evidence. In the Circuit Court case, a tweet he sent acknowledging the existence of my notice was also explicitly introduced. Schmalfeldt authenticated his tweet.

Without any legal purpose. Schmalfeldt claimed that his activity as a “journalist” gave him license to continue to contact me after I had told him to stop. Judge Rasinsky plainly told him that he was wrong in his belief. Both Judge Rasinsky and Judge Stansfield found that Schmalfeldt’s communications addressed to me were sent without any legal purpose. Those findings included the statutory exceptions for political speech or publishing information to others.

Second, I had to show that without a peace order it was likely that Bill Schmalfeldt would continue his harassing behavior. To prove this, additional tweets which were not necessarily directed to me but which discussed his harassment of me were placed in evidence. These tweets came in without objection. The arc of Schmalfeldt’s behavior as shown by the tweets apparently convinced Judge Stansfield.

Aside: My lawyer and I agreed that I should present only enough evidence to secure the peace order. Too much stuff might allow for the possibility of Schmalfeldt’s lawyer finding a bogus point to argue. Most of the available evidence stayed in our briefcases. What Judge Stanfield saw was the tip of the iceberg, but it was enough.

I sought the following relief: That Bill Schmalfeldt should not contact me, attempt to contact me, or harass me.

Here’s the relief granted: In addition to the boilerplate stuff about refraining from a list of crimes such as assault, Bill Scmalfeldt was ordered not to contact me, attempt to contact me, or harass me, and to stay away from my residence for 6 months.

Note that he is free to write about me. He can be as obnoxious or vulgar as he wishes so long as he doesn’t write to me. Or call me on the phone. Or send me mail. Etc.

Twitter has not been put out of business. Bill Schmalfeldt’s First Amendment rights are still intact. What’s also intact is my Ninth Amendment right to be left alone. Schmalfeldt must either respect it or be in contempt of a court order.

Sore Loserman Bill has been frothing at the keyboard about how others don’t have to follow the same rules, how he can be insulted without the right to respond. Bullshit! The Cabin Boy can write about me or Aaron Walker or whomever he chooses as long has he avoids defamation and threats. But if he’s been told not to contact someone, he needs to knock it off.

He claims that his offensive tweets are a response to things written about him. That may be, but his responses are written to rather than about someone. If he writes, “John Doe is a jerk”, he’s written about Doe. If he tweets, “@johndoe is a jerk,” he’s writing to Doe, and if Doe has asked him to stop contacting him, he may be in trouble.

He’s also been whining about feeling dissed by being called things like “Cabin Boy.” Tough. If he can’t stand the heat, he should get out of the kitchen.

If past is prolog, then we can expect that the Cabin Boy’s acting out will continue unless he is further restrained by the courts.

UPDATE—One of the anonymous cowards of Team Kimberlin wishes to comment. WordPress trapped this as spam.

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Schmalfeldt is a slow learner.