Below are links to PDF documents related to a number of our cases.
RIGHTS LITIGATION PROJECT
Abbott v. Abbott
U.S. Supreme Court - 2009
This case concerns the problem of international parental abduction and the scope of the Hague Convention on Civil International Abduction.
Giles v. California
U.S. Supreme Court - 2008
This Supreme Court case involves the issue of whether a defendant can "forfeit" his right to cross-examination by causing the unavailablity of his victim.
Hammon v. Indiana; Davis v. Washington
U.S. Supreme Court - 2006
This Supreme Court case involves the constitutionality of the admission of 911 calls and statements to police in domestic violence prosecutions.
City of Castle Rock, CO v. Jessica Gonzales
U.S. Supreme Court - 2005
This Supreme Court case involves the constitutionality of police failure to enforce a protection order.
DC LEAP
E.J. v. D.J.
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2010
This case provides an opportunity for the D.C. Court of Appeals to further strengthen its pronouncements that trial judges must apply the child safety provisions of D.C. Code Section 16-914 (a-1) to all custody and visitation cases.
In re Robertson
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2008
This case involves the right of victims of domestic violence to privately enforce their civil protection orders.
P.F. v. N.C.
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2008
This custody appeal challenges the court’s penalizing a battered mother’s decision to flee to another state by denying her custody and granting custody to the batterer.
Murphy v. Okeke
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2008
This case involves the re-victimization of the victim by the trial court, which issued a protection order against the victim to “protect her from herself” and repeatedly chastised the victim for “provoking” her abuser’s assault.
C.W. v. E.F.
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2007
This custody case involved the sexual abuse of a child by the father and established a powerful precedent requiring courts to place safety first and to give due weight to a history of battering when considering child abuse allegations in the context of custody and visitation.
Ba v. United States
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2002
This case involved whether a victim can “consent” to her civil protection order being violated.
CUSTODY & ABUSE PROJECT
J.A. v. P.G.
MD 2009
This MD Court of Special Appeals case addresses a critically important avenue towards safety and empowerment for domestic violence victims: the ability to enforce civil protection orders through the criminal justice system without suffering retaliation from their abusers. This appeal arises from a malicious prosecution case filed by a perpetrator of domestic violence against his victim's daughter after he was prosecuted unsuccessfully by the Maryland State Attorney for a protection order violation which the then-18-year old daughter reported to the police.
Mrs. O v. Mr. O
AR Court of Appeals 2009
DV LEAP submitted two amicus briefs and worked with the pro bono lawyers representing the mother in this case, in which the trial court awarded sole custody to an abusive father on the grounds that the mother had committed "Parental Alienation Syndrome" (PAS).
Mrs. R v. Mr. R
TN Court of Appeals 2009
This Tennessee appeal represents the all-too-common phenomenon of battered women losing custody of their children to their abusers. DV LEAP and their pro bono counsel Crowell and Moring filed an amicus brief on behalf of several domestic violence organizations in support of the mother's appeal and argued that the trial court's decision to award full custody to the father, despite an admitted history of physical abuse against the mother, reflected a profound misunderstanding of domestic violence and its consequences to children, as well as an alarming misinterpretation of teh Tennessee Code provisions that were enacted to protect victims of domestic violence and their children.
L.H. v. I.M.
In this case, the trial court granted joint custody to a father who had abused the mother and refused to admit testimony from several expert witnesses including a lethality assessment which found the mother to be in the highest level of risk from the father.
Debek v. Bhatia
Connecticut Court of Appeals - 2008
This case concerns the misuse of the tort of “malicious prosecution” against a mother who sought to protect her daughter from the father’s sexual abuse.
Licata v. Licata
New Jersey Supreme Court - 2002
This case involved the court’s reliance on the pseudo-scientific theory “parental alienation syndrome” and exclusion of an expert on domestic violence.
See also
P.F. v. N.C. and C.W. v. E.F.
under DC LEAP above.
ALL STATES LITIGATION PROJECT
In re Muhammed v. Gilbert
D.C. Court of Appeals - 2005
This case involved a decision by the trial court to deny a victim any share of her husband’s pension, which was marital property, on the ground that her protection order caused him to lose his job as a police officer.
Triggs v Triggs
Maryland Supreme Court - 2003
This case concerned the appropriateness of a sentence of 18 years in jail for 18 separate violations of a protection order against an abuser who had held the children hostage for days while tormenting the mother by phone; the brief discusses major risk factors of lethality
See also
Debek v Batia
under CUSTODY & ABUSE above.