Temporary Restraining Order Stigma In Texas

In State v. Lodge, 608 S.W.2d 910 (Tex. 1980), the court held that commitment to a mental hospital can engender adverse social consequences to the individual whether it is labeled a stigma or called something else. Id. at 912. An appeal of a protective order may not be rendered moot if direct or collateral legal consequences flow from the wrongful granting of a protective order. See State v. Lodge, 608 S.W.2d 910, 912 (Tex. 1980). The collateral consequences recognized by the courts have been severely prejudicial events "'whose effects continued to stigmatize helpless or hated individuals long after the unconstitutional judgment had ceased to operate.'" Oxy U.S.A., Inc., 789 S.W.2d at 571 (quoting Spring Branch I.S.D. v. Reynolds, 764 S.W.2d 16, 18 (Tex. App.-Hous. [1 Dist.] 1988, no writ)). Although expired temporary protective orders and restraining orders have been considered moot, none of these cases has carried the same social stigma as a protective order granted based on a finding of family violence. Cf. Guarjado v. Alamo Lumber Company, 159 Tex. 225, 317 S.W.2d 725, 726 (Tex. 1958) (granting of a temporary injunction to restrain a sale rendered moot); Speed v. Keys, 130 Tex. 276, 109 S.W.2d 967, 967 (Tex. 1937) (temporary restraining order which expired by its own express terms rendered moot); Hermann Hosp. v. Tran, 730 S.W.2d 56, 57 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1987, no writ) (temporary restraining order expired by its own terms rendered moot).