CNN v. SEB

Summary

The Michigan Court of Appeals vacated a personal protection order issued against SEB based principally on a racially charged comment directed at a neighbor during a driveway dispute. The court held that the comment, although offensive and insulting, was constitutionally protected speech and did not constitute a true threat or fighting words. The court remanded for consideration of whether other evidence independently supported the PPO under Michigan's stalking and harassment statutes.

Holdings

1. To issue a nondomestic PPO under MCL 600.2950a, the court must find stalking or prohibited conduct, including a course of conduct composed of two or more separate acts; harassment also requires repeated or continuing unconsented contact.
2. SEB's single statement, "here come your masser," although offensive, racially charged, and reprehensible, was protected speech because it was not a true threat, fighting words, or an expression intended to incite violence; issuing a PPO based on that statement violated the First Amendment.
3. The PPO could not stand on the trial court's stated basis of SEB's single protected statement, but on remand the trial court may consider whether evidence apart from that statement supports CNN's petition.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court misstated the statutory requirement that a PPO be based on a course of conduct consisting of two or more separate acts and repeated or continuing unconsented contact.
2. Whether SEB's single racially charged but nonthreatening statement constituted harassment under Michigan's PPO statute or was constitutionally protected speech under the First Amendment.
3. Whether evidence other than SEB's statement could support issuance of the PPO.

Disposition

vacated