In re Marriage of Nadkarni

In 2005, Darshana Nadkarni (plaintiff) obtained a divorce decree against Datta Nadkarni (defendant). Darshana and Datta continued to disagree on the issue of custody over the Nadkarnis’ two teenaged children. During the custody dispute, Datta submitted to the court several emails Darshana had sent. Datta stated that he had obtained the emails by signing into Datta’s account because he was concerned about their children. Datta claimed that the emails showed Darshana had left the children unsupervised for two months while traveling to India and contained inflammatory information that Datta could use in the custody litigation. Darshana had been unaware that Datta was accessing her emails until he attempted to introduce the emails into evidence. Darshana petitioned for an ex parte temporary restraining order against Datta to forbid him from accessing her account and disclosing the emails’ contents. Darshana alleged that she had created the email account on her own and had used it for work-related matters, scheduling, and to contact her attorney. Darshana also claimed that Datta had used the emails to obtain subpoenas pursuant to the custody dispute and had used the emails to become aware of Darshana’s schedule and social events. Darshana stated that she feared for her safety because Datta had been previously convicted of a spousal-abuse misdemeanor and had known her whereabouts since the separation although Darshana was unaware that Datta knew her schedule by accessing her emails. The court granted Darshana a temporary restraining order. Darshana then applied for a 10-year protection order. The court dismissed Darshana’s application without conducting a hearing on the ground that Datta’s behavior concerning the emails did not constitute abuse pursuant to California’s Domestic Violence Protection Act (DVPA). Darshana appealed.