Sexual cyber harassment is commonly referred to as revenge porn, and that’s when someone posts a private sexual image of you online. Now if an ex or a friend is threatening to take that action, or if they’ve already done so, it’s important to act quickly. Once an image is online, it’s nearly impossible to get it removed permanently.

However, there are things that we can do to try to get the website to remove it or to take action against that individual who posted that image. Here in Florida, you’re protected under a criminal law and a civil statute, so you can seek financial remedies and seek monetary damages against that individual.

It’s important to act quickly. Either contact us online or you can call us at Cagnet Myron Law at 561-877-0230 to see what rights and remedies you have available to you.

An injunction or a restraining order provides the victim with the knowledge that the respondent or defendant, they’re prohibited from contacting you directly or indirectly. This means that they’re not allowed to show up at your school, at your work, at your house. They can’t come within 100 feet of your vehicle, even if you’re not in that vehicle. It also prohibits contact using technology.

They can’t call you, they can’t text you, they can’t email you, they can’t message you on social media, they can’t post about you on social media, post images of you, tag you, write your name in the post on social media. All of these actions are prohibited in an injunction or restraining order. However, it also prohibits indirect contact, which means they can’t reach out to your friends, your family and try to get messages to you that way.

If someone is spreading lies about you online, you may have a claim for defamation in Florida. You may also have a claim for an injunction or restraining order for cyberstalking. If it’s a repeated pattern, if they constantly are posting about you and sharing this information, which is false, even if the information isn’t false, you still may have a basis for an injunction in Florida. So it’s important to reach out to a knowledgeable attorney who can guide you through that process and help you determine which course of action is right in your specific case.

If you find yourself being bullied online through social media, you can contact the specific provider, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and report the harassing content. However, you many also be able to block the specific user. But what typically happens is that user then creates multiple other profiles and will continue the harassment.

So to put a final stop to the harassment, the best way is to proceed with an injunction for protection or a restraining order. That will prohibit either direct or indirect contact from that harasser. It’s important to learn the identity of the person who is doing the harassment. If it’s just an anonymous post, then it could create more difficulties in proving your case. So gather as much information as possible, take screenshots, make sure you document every time you feel that you being harassed online. Who’s doing the harassment and keep copies of those screenshots in a file and print them out as well so that you don’t accidentally delete that information and you can use that as evidence to proceed with the restraining order.

If you’re the victim of cyberstalking or cyberbullying, keep a journal or a log. You want to make sure you keep a detailed timeline of events. Write down the date, the time, what happened, who was there, any details you can recall and it’s also important if it’s through online harassment. If you can take a screenshot of the harassing images or messages or posts and make sure that you keep that documentation. You may even want to print it out so you don’t accidentally delete the images and all this information can be used to support your petition for injunction for stalking or the crime of stalking.

Revenge porn is the term that’s commonly used to describe the legal basis for sexual cyberharassment. That’s when a private sexual image, a photo that you may have sent to your ex-boyfriend or your ex-girlfriend or video you may have made together. That’s when another individual posts that video or that photo online without your knowledge and your consent. If that happens you have a cause of action under the Sexual Cyberharassment statute. You can report this incident to the police and you can also file for an injunction or restraining order to put a stop to that harassing post or to ask that it be removed. And you also have a separate civil cause of action. Under the statute, you’re entitled to recovery of your attorney fees. You’re also entitled to civil damages meaning monetary damages. Under the statute you can get $5,000 or your actual damages if you are a victim of sexual cyberharassment.

Cyberstalking is the legal term of art. It’s commonly referred to as cyberbullying and includes harassment through the phone, either text messages, calls, through the internet, social media, messaging through social media, posts on social media, if the victim is tagged in a post, if their image is posted on social media, if their name is referenced in a post on social media. It also includes emails or any other electronic communication to harass another person and all of this evidence can be used to support a claim of stalking.

During the hearing as the petitioner, the victim it’s your burden of proof.

You have to establish why the judge should grant the injunction. You have to bring all of your documents to prove this evidence. You have to testify to those documents. You also have to explain why you need this protection. You have to show the repeated pattern of unwanted contact if it’s a stalking injunction. Why it’s unwanted? That you drew that clear line in the sand and you told that person do not contact me and they continued to contact you either directly or indirectly. If the other party appears, they may have an attorney. They may not. If they don’t have an attorney they can cross examine you. They ask you questions. You’ll be placed under oath to give your testimony.

The respondent may testify as well if they are present. If they have an attorney, their attorney can cross examine you. You want to make sure you have your witnesses there, police officers, any other witnesses who can testify on your behalf. The other side also has the ability to subpoena witnesses and have them testify on their behalf. The petitioner has has the ability to cross examine the respondent or any witnesses that they call, but at the end of the day it’s a judge who makes a final decision as to whether to grant or deny your request for injunction.

To prove that you’re a victim of cyberstalking or cyberbullying, you will need to create a detailed timeline of events. You will need to write out the date, time, location. What happened during the incident, who was there, what witnesses are available. You also need to be able to explain how you know the identity of the person who’s been harassing you. If it’s online, the identity may not be readily available so you may have to do additional research or have an expert who can gather information on an IP address or other information that’s available to identify the defendant or the respondent. Once you have this information, you will also want to take screenshots so you’ll have images of the messages, of the call logs, of the emails, of the social media posts that are at issue. You want to keep that documentation in chronological order so that it’s easy for a law enforcement officer or a judge to easily see that yes you have in fact been a victim of cyberstalking.

Evidence that would be helpful in a sexual assault or rape case. It could include any kind of photographic evidence. If you have bruising, scratches. If you can get to a medical facility and have them take DNA samples. If there is anything for them to document, make sure you bring an extra pair of clothes. There may be DNA evidence on the clothes that you are wearing. So you want to make sure you can leave them there to be tested and you have a change of clothes to leave with. You also want to write down a detailed journal entry of where you were, what happened. I know it’s painful to try to re-establish this information, but it’s going to be very helpful if you decide later on that you do want to move forward.

If your child is the victim of cyberbullying or cyberstalking, you want to have an open conversation with them about it. Let them know that it’s not their fault. Make them feel comfortable to come to you to talk about these issues. It’s hard for us to understand what it’s like to be a child today where when you leave school, you don’t get a break from the harassment through social media. Everyone is constantly available through their phone. They don’t really get that break from harassment. It’s important to know that you are there for them. If they are a victim of cyberstalking or cyberbullying, you want to make sure you help them to gather the evidence. Talk to them about what apps are on their phone. Make sure you understand how to use those apps so that you can know what your child is doing and know what messages your child– they’re receiving. You want to make sure that you are able to get that information, so you know how to take screenshots and document the evidence. If the harassment’s coming from someone that your child goes to school with, you may want to talk to a teacher, a guidance counselor. You may want to reach out to other parent and see if we can resolve it that way. However, if that doesn’t work you have legal rights and remedies available to you. You can file for a petition for injunction for stalking on behalf of your minor child. You can go forth with seeking a no contact order, a restraining order, the injunction, so that you could put a stop to your child’s harassment. If that doesn’t work you also have criminal remedies available in Florida stalking is a crime. Cyberstalking and cyberbullying are a basis for the crime of stalking, you have legal remedies available to you if it gets to that.

In Florida, we have specific protections on the basis of stalking. If you have a repeated pattern of unwanted contact that serves no legitimate purpose and causes substantial emotional distress, you not only have the basis for an injunction for protection or a restraining order, you also have the basis for the crime of stalking in Florida, which is a misdemeanor. However, if there are credible threats, it rises to a felony.

To document this information, you want to make sure you have a timeline, a log of events, very detailed, the date, time, what happened, who was there, what witnesses are available and also screenshots of that evidence. So that you have that information that you need to proceed with the injunction or the restraining order and to provide to law enforcement. Now it’s a very specific statute for stalking in Florida. In cyberstalking, the use of technology to harass, is specifically included under that definition.

A person who is being harassed through calls, emails, text messages in Florida, you have the ability to get a restraining order to put a stop to that harassment.

Now, to prove that injunction, restraining order or no contact order, you only need to have the copies of the screenshots showing in detail the amount of messages. In Florida, technically, only two specific incidents are required to establish stalking which is the legal term for cyberstalking. To establish that, you’ll need to have those screenshots and be able to say how you know was that person. Sometimes, you get calls from blocked numbers. You may have answered it unknowingly whatever side unknown or came up from a scrambled number, but if you can identify the voice, you can testify. Your testimony is evidence in a case and can be used as evidence in the injunction.

If you’re receiving unwanted text messages or calls from a co-worker, it could be a basis for cyberstalking. You would have to prove that you asked this co-worker not to contact you, either over the phone, through messages, to call you or that it’s clear that you don’t want any additional contact. If the co-worker, if you’re communicating based on a specific project and the communication goes beyond that project, and it’s in a personal nature, harassing nature, and you’ve made it clear that you only want contact from that individual for that specific basis of whatever the work context is that you have to communicate with them. Anything beyond that could be a basis for an injunction. You can take legal action to protect yourself and to prevent them from continuing to harass you through calls or messages.

If you are trying to find a lawyer regarding your cyberstalking or cyberbullying case, you want to make sure that they are knowledgeable on the specific issue of stalking which is the governing law, for cyberstalking or cyberbullying. You want to make sure that they are up to date on the latest case law. In Florida only two specific incidents are required to establish the crime of stalking. You want to make sure that they know the intricacies and can explain that to the judge. If cyberstalking is involved you want to make sure that your lawyer can explain what the apps are, how they are used, how the information may be portrayed and explain that to the judge and make sure that it is clear to the judge exactly how you are being stalked or cyberstalked.

If your child is being cyber bullied or cyber stalked, you need to make sure you document all the information. Create a detailed time of events with the specific date, time, description of the incident. Who witnessed it? Who was listed in the post? Who made comments on the post, especially through social media? Take screen shots of the images so that you can have evidence to prove your case. Once you have all the information that you need, you can go to the school. If it’s a classmate who’s bullying your child, then they may be able to address the situation. If you want to go further, if that doesn’t resolve the issue, you also have the ability to file for an injunction or a restraining order on behalf of your minor child. That would require providing that documentation, filing a formal petition for injunction with the court, and then going forward with the full hearing and providing that evidence to the judge who makes the final decision of whether or not to grant that injunction or restraining order. You can also report this information to the police. It’s better to call and have a police officer come to your home to report and document all the information. Make sure you get the officer’s badge number, the report number and any other information so that you can get in contact with that officer to provide any additional information that you may receive in the future.

An injunction can be put in place for any specified period of time. It’s typically viewed as an emergency basis. It’s used to provide a cooling off period or a time for the respondent to establish new behaviors. Move on. It may be put in place for only a month, three months, six months, a year. However, in certain cases, there may be a basis to argue that you would like it in place until further order of the court. That means it’s a permanent injunction. It would remain in place until either party file’s a motion to have that injunction vacated. To do that you would have to show a substantial change in circumstances and argue that basis to the court at a separate hearing.

Cyberstalking and cyberbullying can be reported either directly through the website that their harassment is coming from, through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. You can contact the website directly and you can show them a screenshot of the image that you’re trying to report and have it removed that way. However, that may not solve the underline problem and it may just cause additional posts to be created. If that happens, then you want to make sure you have that documentation, those screenshots as evidence of the harassment.

The screenshots of the call logs, if the harassment is through the phone, screenshots of the text messages or any other messages or e-mails. You want to keep that documentation and keep it in chronological order, so it’s easy for a law enforcement officer or for a judge or a lawyer to examine if you have to go forward with the legal process to resolve the harassment.

If you feel that you’re being stalked online, that is a specific legal term of art. Some people have a misconception of someone just searching your Facebook page or looking at your photos, but in Florida, to be stalked legally requires a point of contact. Either a message or tagging you in a post, posting your photo, posting your name with a comment. Something of that nature.

A lawyer can sit down with you and explain what stalking is in Florida and what’s legally required to go forward. They can also explain what rights and remedies are available to you. Help to explain what an injunction is, the restraining order. If you want to proceed with that process, they can help you to organize all of the documents and information that you have so that you can provide a clear case to the judge, to request that order of protection. They can also help to explain what the criminal law of stalking is in Florida and how to properly document that and assist you with reporting the crime of stalking to police.

If a criminal case is filed in Florida, the lawyer can file a notice of appearance on behalf of the victim in the criminal case. That would allow for the victim to have their presentation through out that criminal process.

In Florida, the prosecutor represents the state in a criminal case. They do not represent the victim. The victim is technically only a witness to the events. Therefore, when you have an attorney, it assists with the prosecutor, they assist with law enforcement, gathering additional evidence. If records need to be subpoenaed. If a device needs to be subpoenaed, we can help to assist with coordinating an expert to be able to examine those devices and gather the information that we need to proceed with an effective case of stalking.

In Florida, to get a protective order if you’re the victim of domestic violence, you want to file for a petition for injunction and you can file it under the basis of domestic violence. To establish your petition for injunction for domestic violence, you have to show that there’s a reasonable fear of harm or that immediate harm will occur and to do that, you need to have a timeline of events, go into detail about what happened. The judge needs to understand the history and the pattern of events.

Stalking is also a basis of domestic violence. You don’t need physical harm or threat of physical harm to get an injunction. It doesn’t just apply to a husband and wife or spouse. It also applies to roommates, to other family members, if you have someone who’s staying with you in your home for a specified period of time and there is just domestic violence that occurs, either threats of harm, or stalking or harassment that occurs, you can file for a protective order in that case as well. You are not required to file for divorce in order to get an order of protection or an injunction against your current spouse.

If you’ve been the victim of rape or sexual assault the first priority is your safety and your emotional well being. You may want to reach out to an attorney who’s knowledgeable on these areas, so that you know what rights and remedies are available to you. But you don’t want to jump in right away and pay for an attorney because you are still experiencing trauma. Your first priority could be counseling. Go to victim services. Seek a victim advocate. In Palm Beach County here in Florida, we have free counseling, free therapy for victims of rape and sexual assault. Even if you don’t want to go forward with criminal charges, non-reporting victims, these services are still available to you. If you decided that you do want to go forward with legal action then engage in representation with a knowledgeable attorney.

As in any legal matter, the individual has the ability to represent themselves or go forward pro-se. You can do that in a civil case, you can do that in an injunction as well, however, depending on what you’re filing your injunction for. If it’s for stalking, domestic violence, repeated violence, dating violence. There are very specific requirements which must be included in that petition for a judge to have a basis to either grant a temporary injunction or to set it for hearing and if that information is not included they have no choice but to deny your request and not even set it for a hearing. If this happens it’s good to reach out to an attorney to say, “What can I do differently? What was missing here? I know I have a basis to go forward. What do I need?” And that’s where an attorney can sit down with you, a knowledgeable attorney, who is familiar with this area and knows what details need to be included. What are the keywords you have to include to meet the specific elements under the law.

If your child is being cyberbullied or cyberstalked, you may want to not hire a lawyer right away, but you want to reach out to a lawyer who’s knowledgeable on the issues so that you know what rights and remedies are available for you and your child. Speaking with a lawyer can provide you with information on how to properly document the cyberbullying. What you can do. How to proceed with an injunction for protection for your child. You can file the injunction on behalf of your minor child. How to properly report these incidents to the police, what you need, what the statute is that applies. Copies of the harassing messages you want to make sure it’s all in an organized fashion when you provide it to law enforcement or whenever you file that petition for injunction. There’s very specific requirements in Florida to establish stalking which is the legal term of art, when cyberbullying or cyber stalking is involved. It’s important to know your rights. Speak to a knowledgeable attorney on this issue.

If your ex-husband or your ex-wife is sending you harassing or threatening e-mails or text messages, you may have the basis to proceed with an injunction or a restraining order against that person.

Now to prove that, you’ll need copies and screenshots of the messages, the call logs. You may have a child in common so there could be a legitimate basis for some of that communication, but if you’ve made it clear to your ex-spouse the communication is solely to be limited to the child and the child’s well being, and the communication goes beyond that is harassing you about where are you? Who are you with? Things of a personal nature that are not relating to that child, you can use that for the basis of the injunction or restraining order to prohibit that person from harassing you. If there are specific threats or credible threats in those messages you may have a crime of stalking. The credible threat rises from a misdemeanor in Florida to a felony.

In Florida, victims of cyberstalking and cyberbullying are protected by the law. They have the ability to go forward with an injunction or a restraining order which prohibits direct and indirect contact with the victim. That means the offender can’t message the victim. They can’t post on social media about the victim. They can’t show up at the victim’s house, at their work. That also prohibits the indirect contact with reaching out to the victim’s family or friends to try to get messages to the victim. The victim also has the ability to report the incidents and technically the legal term is stalking.

Cyberbullying and cyberstalking are included under the stalking law of Florida. If they want to report this incident to police, the police can then provide this information to the state attorney’s office to determine if they want to go forward criminally with charges of stalking. The victim may also have other civil remedies available based on defamation, tortious interference depending on the nature of the allegations in this specific case.This is the accordion body content. It is typically best to keep this area short and to the point so it isn't too overwhelming.

Mediation is a process whereby a neutral and impartial third person acts to encourage and facilitate the resolution of a dispute without prescribing what it should be. It is an informal and non- adversarial process intended to help disputing parties reach a mutually acceptable agreement.

It is important to remember that in a criminal case, the victim is just a witness, and the prosecutor represents the State, not the victim.

In Florida, victims have rights in the criminal case... these rights include the right to be present, to be heard, to confer with the prosecutor, the right to be free from intimidation/harassment... it is a stressful process for a victim, and we are here to advocate for the rights of victims throughout the criminal process.

If you believe you are entitled to assets of an estate and the decedent did not leave a last will and testament, you can initiate probate proceedings in the circuit court so that the estate assets are distributed in accordance with Florida law.

A challenge to a will, commonly known as a “will contest” must be initiated in circuit court, and if the parties are not able to resolve their dispute, a judge will decide whether or not the challenged will is valid.