Catlett v. Teel
| Citation | 15 Wash.App.2d 689,477 P.3d 50 |
| Decision Date | 07 December 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. 80059-1-I,80059-1-I |
| Parties | Annemarie CATLETT, Respondent, v. Robert Lee TEEL, Appellant. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
Chase Christian Alvord, Tousley Brain Stephens PLLC, 1700 7th Ave. Ste. 2200, Seattle, WA, 98101-4416, for Appellant.
Jason Ellis Anderson, Attorney at Law, 5355 Tallman Ave. Nw. Ste. 207, Seattle, WA, 98107-3954, for Respondent.
Hyland Hunt, Attorney at Law, 300 New Jersey Ave. Nw. Ste. 900, Washington, DC, 20001-2271, Eugene Volokh, UCLA School Of Law, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90095, Amicus Curiae on behalf of Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment.
PUBLISHED OPINION
Dwyer, J. ¶1 Robert Teel appeals from the entry of an antiharassment protection order that restrains his behavior. The protection order was based solely on Teel's actions in causing public records to be published—a right that is protected under both the United States and Washington Constitutions. Accordingly, the protection order is invalid under chapter 10.14 RCW, which provides that an antiharassment protection order cannot be based on actions that qualify as constitutionally protected speech. In addition, the protection order imposes an unconstitutional content-based restriction and serves as an unconstitutional prior restraint on Teel's speech. Given all of this, we reverse.
¶2 Robert Teel and Annemarie Catlett were involved in a romantic relationship that ended in March 2017. In April 2017, a deputy from the Island County Sheriff's Office telephoned Teel to inform him that Catlett did "not want him to come around" anymore. Teel subsequently availed himself of a website entitled MuckRock.com to make a request for public records concerning Catlett from the Island County Sheriff's Office.
¶3 MuckRock is a third party Internet service through which users can initiate public records requests. By default, the requests and returned records are made publicly available on MuckRock's website. However, users can check a box to "Embargo" the requests and records, making them private.
¶4 In July 2017, MuckRock received and published on its website public records that were requested by Teel. These public records included (1) an incident report by Catlett stating that she and Teel broke up and that she did "not want him to come around," (2) an incident report regarding a verbal dispute between Catlett and Teel, (3) an incident report by Catlett stating that Teel had been stalking her, (4) an incident report stating that Catlett had been taken into protective custody for a suicide attempt, and (5) an incident report wherein Catlett stated that Teel had been feeling suicidal.
¶5 In August 2017, Teel used MuckRock to make additional public records requests of sheriff's offices in Oregon and California. These requests generated numerous reports, including (1) two arrest reports describing Catlett's behavior that led to her arrest for harassment, (2) an arrest report detailing Catlett's arrest for domestic assault, (3) an incident report stating that Catlett had allegedly assaulted her domestic partner, and (4) an application for an emergency protection order against Catlett. These public records were also made publicly available on MuckRock's website.
¶6 In February 2018, Catlett discovered that the public records received by MuckRock were published online and could be found by searching her name on an Internet search engine. Catlett contacted MuckRock and asked that it remove the public records from its website. Teel subsequently received an e-mail from MuckRock indicating that Catlett had requested that the public records requests and responses be made private. Teel then clicked the "Embargo" box on MuckRock's website and MuckRock confirmed to Teel that the requests and responses were now private.
¶7 Between October 2017 and December 2018, Teel and Catlett exchanged several messages via text and Facebook. These included a "Happy Birthday" message from Catlett to Teel, a happy Mother's Day message from Teel to Catlett, a happy Father's Day text from Catlett to Teel, and an exchange of several text messages between the two on the day that Teel had shoulder and wrist surgery.
¶8 On December 18, 2018, Teel stopped by a store at which Catlett's youngest daughter worked to drop off Christmas gifts and a card for her and her sister. Catlett's daughter was not at the store so Teel dropped the gifts off at Catlett's home, placing them on the front porch. After Teel left Catlett's home, he and Catlett drove by each other at an intersection traveling in opposite directions. Later that day, Catlett sent Teel a text message thanking him for the card and gifts.
¶9 The following day, Catlett contacted a deputy at the Island County Sheriff's Office to make an incident report regarding Teel's conduct on the previous day. The deputy subsequently telephoned Teel to inform him of the report. Teel asked the deputy for a copy of the report, and the deputy informed Teel how to make a public records request.
¶10 On December 26, 2018, Teel initiated another public records request via MuckRock seeking additional records concerning Catlett and for records regarding a convicted felon named Terry Martin. Teel later testified that he had suspected that Catlett and Martin had been engaged in a money laundering scheme.
¶11 In January 2019, MuckRock received Catlett's December 2018 incident report, screen shots of text messages between Catlett and Teel, and photographs of the Christmas card and gifts that Teel had dropped off at Catlett's home. The Island County Sheriff's Office also sent MuckRock a copy of an incident report from October 2017 regarding Catlett and Martin. This document stated that Catlett and Martin were romantically involved and that Catlett telephoned the Island County Sheriff's Office to report that Martin had been harassing her.
¶12 Upon being notified by MuckRock that these records were available to view on its website, Teel clicked the "Embargo" box to hide the records from public view. After 30 days, however, the embargo on the documents expired automatically, thus making these documents viewable to the public on MuckRock's website. One result of Teel's request for public records concerning both Catlett and Martin was that court documents regarding Martin's conviction for fraud were imbedded in Internet hyperlinks that contained records about Catlett.
¶13 On February 10, 2019, Catlett's neighbor, Jack Yang Ng, informed Catlett that he had seen Teel drive by Catlett's home very slowly. Several days later, Catlett filed a petition for a protection order. In the petition, Catlett asserted that Teel had been stalking and harassing her.
¶14 On March 26, 2019, a hearing on the petition took place before a court commissioner of the Island County Superior Court. The commissioner entered an order for protection against Teel, which restricted him from being within an unstated distance of Catlett's residence, place of employment, and equestrian facility. Teel subsequently filed a motion for revision. On May 13, 2019, the superior court heard the motion and upheld the issuance of the protection order. The superior court's oral ruling was followed by its entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law.
Therein, the superior court concluded that Teel's actions in "making multiple public records requests ... as to have them appear when Ms. Catlett's name was searched on the internet" constituted unlawful harassment. Additionally, the superior court awarded attorney fees to Catlett.
¶15 Teel appeals.
¶16 As an initial matter, the parties dispute which actions provided the factual basis for the superior court's entry of the protection order.1 Teel contends that the protection order was based solely on his actions in causing public records to be published online.2 In response, Catlett asserts that the protection order was additionally based on Teel's acts of both dropping gifts off at her home in December 2018 and driving slowly by her home in February 2019. The record supports Teel's contention.
¶17 Courts can enter protection orders upon finding that "unlawful harassment" exists:
At [a] hearing, if the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that unlawful harassment exists, a civil anitharassment protection order shall issue prohibiting such unlawful harassment.
RCW 10.14.080(3).
¶18 "Unlawful harassment" is defined, in relevant part, as "a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person which seriously alarms, annoys, harasses, or is detrimental to such person, and which serves no legitimate or lawful purpose." RCW 10.14.020(2) (emphasis added). Thus, "unlawful harassment" requires a finding of a "course of conduct."
¶19 In claiming that the protection order was based on conduct other than Teel's actions in causing public records to be published online, Catlett points to the superior court's findings of fact 7 and 14.
¶20 Finding of fact 7 states:
¶21 While there was periodic text communication there was no personal contact until December of 2018 when Ms. Catlett saw Mr. Teel drive past her at Bayview on South Whidbey Island. He stopped his vehicle and stared at her. Ms. Catlett was startled but continued with her day. When she got home she was disturbed to find that Mr. Teel had been to her home and left gifts for her adult daughters and her dogs. Ms. Catlett initially tried to respond politely.
¶22 Next, finding of fact 14 states:
¶23 Ms. Catlett was informed on February 10, 2019 by a friend and neighbor, Jack Yang Ng, that he had seen Mr. Teel's vehicle driving very slowly by Ms. Catlett's home. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Catlett filed the Petition.
¶24 Although the superior court made these findings of fact, neither of them served as a basis for the protection order. Instead, Teel's actions in requesting public records in a manner that made them appear online was the only "course of conduct" referenced by the superior court:
Mr. Teel's action of knowingly and willfully making...
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