Hoggarth v. Kropp

Summary

The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the imposition of a disorderly conduct restraining order against Mary Elizabeth Kropp based on harassing conduct during a parking-lot confrontation and through email communications. The court held that the conduct was not constitutionally protected speech, but remanded for the restraining order to be narrowed by establishing specific distance boundaries and schedules for shared public, school, church, and sporting events.

Holdings

1. Kropp's speech was not constitutionally protected because, considered in the context of her accompanying conduct and intent, it constituted harassing, intrusive, threatening, and privacy-invading behavior proscribed by North Dakota's disorderly conduct statute.
2. The restraining order was validly imposed but excessively restrictive in scope and had to be modified to establish specific distance boundaries and schedules for limited common school, public, and religious events.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Kropp's statements and e-mail communications were constitutionally protected speech that could not support a disorderly conduct restraining order.
2. Whether the restraining order was impermissibly broad because it prohibited all contact and required Kropp to leave any public place upon recognizing a Hoggarth family member.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded