7.2.1 Types of Injunctions

1. Injunction under Post-Separation Family Violence Relief Act, La. R.S. 9:366(A)       

In PSFVRA cases involving family violence, the court must include an injunction against abuse in the judgment for divorce.1  The terms of the injunction include restrictive no contact and stay away provisions in addition to typical prohibitions against physical abuse and harassment.2  The statute does not put a time limit on these injunctions, and they are typically issued as permanent injunctions. These injunctions, like all injunctions prohibiting abuse, should be reduced to an LPOR form, are entered into the Louisiana Protective Order Registry, and are a crime to violate.3

2. Injunction against Abuse Ancillary to Divorce, La. R.S. 9:372

These injunctions are also available to victims of abuse who are married to their perpetrators and are seeking divorce. The injunctions available under this provision are more generic and less specific than those available through other statutes and prohibit “a spouse from physically or sexually abusing the other spouse or a child of either of the parties.” But like all injunctions prohibiting abuse, these injunctions are entered into the Louisiana Protective Order Registry and are a crime to violate.4

These orders can be permanent but must be issued prior to or in the divorce. Also, if an injunction is not included in the divorce, prior injunctions issued under this statute may expire upon divorce.5  If granted at divorce, the injunction should be included in the divorce judgment and must also be reduced to a Uniform Abuse Prevention Order form for submission to the LPOR. A subsequent divorce judgment may supersede a protective order if it fails to restate the injunctions against abuse.6

3. Injunctions against Harassment, La. R.S. 9:372.1

These injunctions are frequently issued as mutual injunctions in divorce cases but should rarely, if ever, be used in domestic violence cases. In domestic violence cases, both judges and opposing counsel often propose these injunctions to promote settlement. But injunctions against harassment are a poor substitute for injunctions against abuse for several reasons. First, any mutual injunction should be considered potentially dangerous to victims for reasons described elsewhere in this chapter.7  But even if these orders are not mutual, they provide little protection to victims. Injunctions against harassment, unlike injunctions prohibiting abuse, are not reduced to a Louisiana Protective Order Registry Form and are not entered into the protective order registry. They are enforceable through contempt proceedings rather than arrest under the Criminal Code’s protective order violation statute, making enforcement both more difficult and less likely to address immediate safety issues.8

Importantly, these orders do not exempt an abused party from the custodial relocation notice requirements that protect victims with children who relocate,9  and they do not invoke federal firearm prohibitions.10

• 1La. R.S. 9:366(A).
• 2La. R.S. 9:363.
• 3La. R.S. 14:79.
• 4Lawrence v. Lawrence, 02-1066, p. 3 (La. App. 3 Cir. 3/5/03), 839 So. 2d 1201, 1203 (holding that an injunction may not be issued three years after divorce); Steele v. Steele, 591 So. 2d 810, 812 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1991).
• 5Steele, 591 So. 2d at 812.
• 6See id. (holding that a pre-divorce injunction under predecessor statute expires upon divorce if not expressly continued in divorce judgment).
• 7For further discussion of the potential dangers of mutual injunctions, see Section 3.5.
• 8La. R.S. 14:79.
• 9La. R.S. 9:355.2(C)(2).
• 1018 U.S.C. § 922 (g).