Stop Text Harassment: Veridian Legal is Your Advocate

Are you being bombarded with abusive, threatening, or unwanted text messages? You're not alone. Text harassment, also known as SMS harassment or mobile harassment, is a pervasive form of online abuse that can have a devastating impact on your emotional well-being and sense of safety. At Veridian Legal, our New York text harassment attorneys have extensive experience with this issue and are dedicated to helping you fight back and reclaim your peace of mind.

Text Harassment: A Hidden Form of Domestic Abuse

Text harassment is often a tool used by abusers to continue their control, intimidation, and harm, even from a distance. In the context of domestic violence, it's not just a nuisance—it's a continuation of the abuse, delivered straight to your phone. This can include:

• Threats to Your Safety: Messages warning of violence to you, your loved ones, or your home.

• Relentless Contact: Texts that persist despite your pleas to stop, eroding your boundaries.

• Insults and Degradation: Words meant to shame, belittle, or isolate you.

• Sexual Coercion: Unwanted explicit messages or images that violate your dignity.

• Monitoring and Control: Texts demanding to know where you are or who you’re with.

For survivors of domestic violence in New York, these messages can feel like an inescapable tether to abuse. Our attorneys recognize this as a serious violation—and we’re committed to breaking that chain.

What is Text Harassment?

Text harassment involves the use of text messages to harass, threaten, or intimidate someone. It can take many forms, including:

• Abusive or Insulting Messages: Name-calling, insults, derogatory comments, and other forms of verbal abuse intended to degrade or humiliate you.  Examples: Calling you offensive names, belittling your appearance or intelligence, making derogatory comments about your race, religion, or sexual orientation.

• Threats of Harm: Messages that threaten physical violence, sexual assault, or harm to your property, family, or loved ones. Examples: "I'm going to kill you," "I'm going to burn your house down," "I'm going to hurt your children."

• Sexual Harassment: Unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or sexually explicit messages or images. Examples: Sending unsolicited nude photos, demanding sexual favors in exchange for something, making lewd comments about your body.

• Stalking and Intimidation: Repeatedly texting someone after being asked to stop, sending messages that make the recipient fear for their safety, or using text messages to track or monitor someone's location or activities. Examples: Constantly texting even after being blocked, sending messages like "I know where you are," or using location-sharing features without consent.

• Flooding: Overwhelming the recipient with a barrage of text messages, often with no real purpose other than to annoy, disrupt, or intimidate. Examples: Sending hundreds of messages in a short period, texting at all hours of the day and night, sending messages that are nonsensical or irrelevant.

The Psychological and Emotional Impact

Text harassment can have a profound impact on your mental and emotional health. Victims often experience:

• Anxiety and Fear: Constant worry about receiving harassing messages and the potential for the abuse to escalate. This can manifest as panic attacks, difficulty relaxing, or constantly feeling on edge.

• Sleep Disturbances: Difficulty sleeping due to anxiety, nightmares, or the anticipation of receiving harassing messages. This can lead to exhaustion, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.

• Difficulty Concentrating: The stress and distraction of text harassment can make it hard to focus on work, school, or daily tasks. This can lead to decreased productivity, poor performance, and strained relationships.

• Emotional Distress: Feelings of anger, sadness, humiliation, helplessness, and isolation. These emotions can be overwhelming and lead to withdrawal from social activities and relationships.

• Social Isolation: Withdrawing from social activities and relationships due to fear, embarrassment, or the desire to avoid the abuser. This can lead to loneliness, depression, and feelings of hopelessness.

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): In severe cases, text harassment can contribute to the development of PTSD, a serious mental health condition with symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, and avoidance behaviors.

New York Laws: Protecting Your Right to Safety and Peace

Text harassment is illegal in New York. Several laws can be used to hold abusers accountable and provide you with legal protection:

• Harassment in the First Degree (NY Penal Law 240.25): This law prohibits intentionally and repeatedly harassing someone, causing them reasonable fear for their physical safety.

• Harassment in the Second Degree (NY Penal Law 240.26): This law encompasses a broader range of harassing behaviors, including those that cause annoyance or alarm.

• Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree (NY Penal Law 240.30): This law specifically addresses anonymous or repeated communication, including text messages, that is intended to cause annoyance or alarm.

Unmasking Anonymous Text Harassers: Utilizing the Courts and CPLR 3102(c)

One of the challenges in text harassment cases is that abusers often hide behind anonymous numbers or fake identities. However, Veridian Legal has the knowledge and resources to help you unmask these perpetrators. We can utilize legal tools like court orders and subpoenas to compel phone companies and messaging apps to disclose information about the abuser's identity.

• CPLR 3102(c): This section of New York law allows us to obtain a court order for pre-action discovery, which means we can gather information about the abuser's identity even before filing a lawsuit. This can be crucial in cases where the abuser is using an anonymous number or fake name.

• Subpoenas: Once a lawsuit is filed, we can use subpoenas to compel phone companies, messaging apps, and other relevant parties to provide information that can help identify the abuser.

Family Court: A Swift Shield Against Text Abuse

For victims of domestic violence, Family Court offers a faster and potentially more effective path to protection than criminal courts:

• Eligibility: If the abuser is a family member, ex-partner, co-parent, or someone with whom you have had an intimate relationship, you are eligible to file a family offense petition in Family Court.

• Process:

  • File a petition: Detailing the text abuse and your relationship with the abuser.

  • Secure a temporary order: Often issued the same day, this order can halt the abuser's contact and provide immediate protection.

  • Attend a hearing: Our attorneys will present your evidence and advocate for your rights.

  • Win a final order: A final order of protection can last up to two years and violations can result in jail time for the abuser.

Your safety isn't negotiable—Family Court is a powerful tool to enforce it.

What to Do if You're Being Text Harassed

If you're a victim of text harassment, it's important to take action to protect yourself and stop the abuse. Here are some steps you can take:

• Document the Harassment:

  • Save screenshots of all harassing text messages.

  • If possible, download your text message conversations.

  • If downloading is not an option, record your phone screen while scrolling through the messages.

• Report the Harassment:

  • Report the harassment to your phone carrier.

  • If the harassment is occurring on a social media platform, report it to the platform.

  • File a police report with your local law enforcement agency.

• Block the Abuser: Block the abuser's phone number and social media accounts to prevent further contact.

• Seek Support: Reach out to friends, family, or a support organization for emotional support and guidance.

• Contact an Attorney: Contact a text harassment attorney to discuss your legal options and protect your rights.

How Veridian Legal Can Help You Fight Back

Our New York text harassment attorneys are dedicated to providing compassionate and effective legal representation. We will:

• Explain Your Rights and Options: We'll clearly explain the laws related to text harassment and help you understand the legal options available to you, including pursuing a case in Family Court or criminal court.

• Gather and Preserve Evidence: We'll guide you on how to collect and preserve crucial evidence, such as screenshots of text messages, phone records, and other documentation.

• File a Police Report: We can assist you in filing a police report and working with law enforcement to pursue criminal charges against the abuser.

• Obtain an Order of Protection: We can help you petition for an order of protection in Family Court to prevent further harassment and ensure your safety.

• Negotiate with the Abuser: If appropriate, we can attempt to resolve the matter through negotiation with the abuser or their attorney.

• Represent You in Court: If necessary, we will aggressively represent you in court to protect your rights and seek justice.

Strengthening Your Case: Preserving Evidence

Preserving evidence is crucial in text harassment cases. Here are some tips:

• Save Screenshots: Take screenshots of all harassing text messages, including the sender's phone number and the date and time of the messages.

• Download Conversations: If possible, download your text message conversations as PDFs or other formats that preserve the metadata.

• Record Your Screen: If downloading is not possible, record your phone screen while scrolling through the messages.

• Disable Auto-Delete: Make sure your phone is not set to automatically delete old text messages.

• Keep Your Phone Secure: Protect your phone with a strong password or biometric lock to prevent the abuser from accessing or deleting evidence.

Why Choose Veridian Legal?

• Experienced Attorneys: Our attorneys have extensive experience handling text harassment and other online abuse cases.

• Personalized Approach: We provide personalized attention and develop a legal strategy tailored to your specific needs and goals.

• Compassionate Support: We understand the emotional toll of text harassment and offer compassionate support throughout the legal process.

• Proven Results: We have a track record of success in helping clients stop text harassment and obtain justice.

Take Control and Stop the Harassment

Don't let text harassment control your life. Contact Veridian Legal today for a confidential consultation. Our dedicated team is here to help you reclaim your peace of mind and hold the abuser accountable.