Appellate Team Wins Precedential Decision Protecting Abuse Survivors

Appellate attorneys Janet Schroer and Taylor Lewis won an appeal on behalf of a survivor of longstanding family abuse.  The appeal followed the trial court’s denial of the client’s motion to renew a Family Abuse Protection Act (FAPA) restraining order.  In doing so, the trial court relied heavily on a recent Court of Appeals decision, J.N.D. v. Dehkordi, 309 Or App 198 (2021), that made it difficult for survivors of abuse to renew restraining orders because Dehkordi required them to prove the abuser posed an “imminent threat of further abuse,” regardless of whether the restraining order had effectively prevented further abusive behaviors.  In K.E.B. v. Bradley, 327 Or App 39 (2023), the Court of Appeals agreed that Dehkordi was wrongly decided, reversed that decision, and held that abuse survivors do not need to prove their abuser still poses an “imminent threat of further abuse” in order to renew a FAPA restraining order.