E.C.O. v. Compton

Father of a sixteen-year-old daughter filed a complaint for protection under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 209A against Defendant, a twenty-four-year-old man, seeking to prevent his daughter from voluntarily engaging in a sexual relationship with Defendant. Defendant was served with the ex parte abuse prevention order. Following a hearing before a district court judge, the order was extended for one year. Defendant appealed, asserting that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of abuse and that the order should not have been extended because he and Plaintiff were not in a substantive dating relationship. The Supreme Court vacated the extension order, holding that there was no basis for the judge to conclude that Defendant's conduct rose to the level of "abuse" as required by the statute. View "E.C.O. v. Compton" on Justia Law