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C.A. Affirms DVRO Though Order Has Expired
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has affirmed a domestic violence restraining order aimed at forcing a man to return to his wife nude photos and videos of her and sexually explicit text messages he seized from her office computer, with the justices adjudicating the matter in a 19-page decision even though the order has expired and the defendant has complied with the order.
Acting Presiding Justice Judith L. Haller explained in a footnote that the appeal was being addressed despite mootness that “a domestic violence restraining order ‘is no ordinary injunction’ and may have continuing collateral consequences”, quoting a case that says these consequences include “affecting a restrained person’s employment and, if children are involved, custody.” However, the appellant, Edgardo Moctezuma, is president of a business he founded and the children of the couple, and a child of his from a previous relationship, are adults.
Affirmance of the order by then-San Diego Superior Court Judge Margo Lewis Hoy (now a private judge) came in an unpublished opinion filed Thursday.
Finds ‘Porn’
The husband accessed his wife’s computer at their business to obtain company financial records which he had requested, and she had not provided, for use in their impending divorce. He found communications between her and a man with whom she was having an affair, along with what he termed “porn.”
He sent text messages to a group of about 10 persons telling of the existence of the nude photos.
Hoy found that the husband’s behavior was “tantamount to extortion, sending to his wife the message:
“You do what I want or I’m going to let everybody know the real truth about you. You’re a cheater…”
The threat that he would “embarrass” her “with videos and text messages and pictures,” the then-judge said, “is hanging over her head as a threat every single day, and to this very day, he still holds” the text and images. She accused the husband of “play[ing] games” with the materials he took from the PC.
Evidence Supports Order
Haller wrote:
“[W]e conclude the trial court’s finding that Husband was “play[ing] games” with Wife’s Personal Information, using it as a form of ‘extortion’ over her, is amply supported by the record in this case; and supports the finding that his conduct constituted ongoing harassment and ‘abuse’ under the [Domestic Violence Protection Act].”
Haller cited the 2009 Sixth District Court of Appeal opinion in In re Marriage of Nadkarni for the proposition that a domestic violence restraining order may be based on “conduct that destroys the mental or emotional calm of the other party.”
The wife, Lisa Moctezuma-Bender, is former chair of the City of Chula Vista Planning Commission and former chair of the Chula Vista Community Foundation.
The case is Marriage of L.M. and E.M., D078565.
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