Does my girlfriend or myself have any sort of case for emotional distress or harassment?
Full Question:
I was recently involved in a dispute which resulted in myself receiving a criminal trespass warning. I was at my girlfriend's apartment with my girlfriend present. She left, and 5 minutes later her roommate showed up. The roommate did not want me there, and called the police to have them remove me from the apartment. She continuously yelled and screamed at me, used foul language, and then proceeded to call the police to tell them that she was "uncomfortable with me being there without my girlfriend present." There were other residents on the floor above the apartment that called the manager complaining of yelling and slamming of doors, all of which was done by the roommate. As I said, the result of this was that I received a criminal trespassing warning. I would like to know if I have any sort of case for defamation of character, emotional distress, or harassment, or any combination.
Also, my girlfriend ended up having a panic attack over this issue, to the point of crying hysterically and not being able to breathe. She has also been constantly harassed to the point of emotional breakdown and stress about this same issue, with no action to resolve the matter being taken by the roommate, despite several attempts by my girlfriend to do so. Does she have any sort of case for emotional distress, or harassment, or both?
10/26/2007 |
Category: Civil Actions ยป Defamation |
State: Texas |
#11022
Answer:
The following is a statute:
§ 42.07 PENAL. Harassment
(a) A person commits an offense if, with intent to harass, annoy,
alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another, he:
(1) initiates communication by telephone, in writing, or by electronic
communication and in the course of the communication makes a comment,
request, suggestion, or proposal that is obscene;
(2) threatens, by telephone, in writing, or by electronic
communication, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm the person
receiving the threat, to inflict bodily injury on the person or to commit
a felony against the person, a member of his family or household, or his
property;
(3) conveys, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm the person
receiving the report, a false report, which is known by the conveyor to
be false, that another person has suffered death or serious bodily
injury;
(4) causes the telephone of another to ring repeatedly or makes
repeated telephone communications anonymously or in a manner reasonably
likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend
another;
(5) makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to hang up or
disengage the connection;
(6) knowingly permits a telephone under the person's control to be used
by another to commit an offense under this section; or
(7) sends repeated electronic communications in a manner reasonably
likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass, or offend
another.
(b) In this section:
(1) "Electronic communication" means a transfer of signs, signals,
writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted
in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic,
or photo-optical system. The term includes:
(A) a communication initiated by electronic mail, instant message,
network call, or facsimile machine; and
(B) a communication made to a pager.
(2) "Family" and "household" have the meaning assigned by Chapter 71,
Family Code.
(3) "Obscene" means containing a patently offensive description of or a
solicitation to commit an ultimate sex act, including sexual
intercourse, masturbation, cunnilingus, fellatio, or anilingus, or a
description of an excretory function.
(c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor, except that
the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the actor has previously been
convicted under this section.