Summary
The Florida Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of Jennifer Thompson’s motion to vacate a permanent domestic-violence injunction entered by default. The court held that the incomplete record did not demonstrate an abuse of discretion, while affirming without prejudice to further consideration of timesharing issues in appropriate proceedings.
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Questions Presented
- Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying the mother's motion to vacate the permanent domestic-violence injunction based on the subsequent determination that she was immune from criminal prosecution for battery.
- Whether the absence of an adequate appellate record precluded a finding of reversible error.
Holdings
- The appellate court discerned no abuse of discretion in the denial of the motion to vacate because the appellate record was inadequate to demonstrate reversible error.
- The affirmance was without prejudice to further consideration of timesharing by the lower court, the domestic-violence court, or the family court in separately filed proceedings.
Key quotations
“Given the lack of a record, we do not discern any abuse of discretion in the denial of the motion to vacate.” (3)
“We therefore affirm, but we do so without prejudice to further consideration of timesharing by the lower court, the domestic violence court, or the family court in any separately filed proceedings.” (3)
Factual background
A temporary domestic-violence injunction was entered after events culminating in the mother's arrest for misdemeanor battery when she struck the father in the head while objecting to his use of corporal punishment on their child. The mother failed to appear at the scheduled final hearing, and the trial court entered a permanent injunction by default. The injunction temporarily awarded full custody of the parties' two children to the father, with the expectation that timesharing issues would later be litigated in family court. A criminal court subsequently determined that the mother was immune from prosecution for battery under Florida's Stand Your Ground Law.
Procedural history
The trial court entered a temporary injunction after the mother's arrest for misdemeanor battery arising from an incident involving the father and one of the children. After the mother failed to appear at the scheduled final hearing, the court entered a permanent injunction by default, temporarily awarded full custody to the father, and later denied the mother's motion to vacate based on changed circumstances. The mother appealed, arguing that her later immunity from criminal prosecution under Florida's Stand Your Ground Law required vacatur.
Remand instructions
No remand was ordered. The affirmance was without prejudice to further consideration of timesharing by the lower court, the domestic-violence court, or the family court in separately filed proceedings.