IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA
NICKESHA REID, NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
Appellant, DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED
v. CASE NO. 1D16-4732
TACHITA SAUNDERS,
Appellee.
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Opinion filed December 19, 2017.
An appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County.
Henry E. Davis, Judge.
Nickesha Reid, pro se, Appellant.
Tachita Saunders, pro se, Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Appellant, Nickesha Reid, appeals a permanent injunction for protection
against stalking that was entered against her. Appellant argues, and we agree, that
the injunction is not supported by competent, substantial evidence and must be
reversed. See § 784.048(2), Fla. Stat. (2016) (providing that stalking occurs when
someone “willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks
another person”); Touhey v. Seda, 133 So. 3d 1203, 1204 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)
(noting that incidents of stalking must be proven by competent, substantial
evidence). While Appellee, Tachita Saunders, claimed to have documentation of
numerous phone calls, emails, and texts made and sent by Appellant, the record
contains no such documentation, and the hearing transcript provides no indication
that Appellee provided any documentation to the trial court. See Murphy v.
Reynolds, 55 So. 3d 716, 716-17 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011) (noting that the appellee set
out to prove cyberstalking as grounds for the injunction by alleging that the appellant
sent her an offensive email, hacked into her email accounts, deleted all of her emails,
and changed her email signature block to include disparaging remarks, “[b]ut [the
appellee] did not introduce evidence that linked [the appellant] to the cyberstalking
incidents”). Without knowing what the alleged communications were, it was not
possible for the trial court to determine whether Appellant engaged in stalking or
whether the communications would have created substantial emotional distress
under a reasonable person standard. See McMath v. Biernacki, 776 So. 2d 1039,
1040 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001) (noting that courts must use a reasonable person standard
rather than a subjective standard in determining whether incidents create substantial
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emotional distress); see also Roach v. Brower, 180 So. 3d 1142, 1144 (Fla. 2d DCA
2015) (noting that “without competent, substantial evidence that Ms. Brower, the
petitioner, suffered substantial emotional distress, the circuit court could not enter
an injunction against [the appellant] based upon the stalking statute”).
Accordingly, the injunction is REVERSED.
LEWIS, OSTERHAUS, and BILBREY, JJ., CONCUR.
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