Domestic Relations – DVPO – Harassment – Emotional Distress – Insufficient Evidence

Walker v. Pharr (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-073-17, 8 pp.) (Mark Davis, J.) Appealed from Wake County District Court (Jefferson Griffin, J.) N.C. App. Unpub.

Holding: Even assuming that defendant’s actions – continuously calling plaintiff, texting him, driving by his workplace, and threatening to have him arrested – constituted “continued harassment,” and even though defendant responded, “Yes,” when his attorney asked whether he was in fear of “constant harassment” and “some type of violent harm” as a result of defendant’s actions, the record is devoid of evidence that defendant’s harassment of plaintiff caused him “substantial emotional distress.”

We vacate the domestic violence protective order.