Haberman v. Rhoad, No. 2006 DR 007754 SC (
Status: Injunction modified to specify web sites covered (Jan. 29, 2008).
Kristen Rhoad, who accuses her ex-husband Phil Haberman of abuse and of falsifying his military record, posted several statements about him on her blog, rhoadwarrior.blogspot.com (no longer active), and several other web sites and some newspapers have posted and published similar materials regarding Haberman’s alleged exaggerations of his military experience. Haberman filed a complaint alleging that the statements on Rhoad’s blog and elsewhere were cyberstalking under Florida law, and constituted domestic violence. The judge agreed, and issued a standard injunction barring Rhoad from contacting Haberman or committing any violence against him, and also ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Rhoad. In a section of the form labeled “other provisions regarding contact,” the judge handwrote into injunction the order that Rhoad to “remove, or cause to remove, all blogs, e-mails or other web-based communications to [Haberman] or third parties that refer to [Haberman], and which are posted, or caused to be posted, by [Rhoad].” Rhoad filed a motion to dissolve the injunction on jurisdictional grounds, but the motion was denied. Nevertheless, Rhoad continued to update her site, and was no effort to enforce the order against other sites. In January 2007, the judge ordered Rhoad to appear on charges of civil contempt. Although she faxed two requests for an adjournment, the hearing was held and a warrant was issued for her arrest. This led the blog to be removed. In January 2008, the court modified the order at Haberman’s request to name the specific web sites involved, which he said was necessary to have the content removed.
Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/haberman-v-rhoad
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/6760022p-6629130c.html
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/spot/archive.asp?postID=3994
http://sarasota.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A112941
http://sarasota.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A114918
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