On August 15, 2008, a Bronx family was in Bronx Family Court on a delinquency action against their son. The parents were in highly emotional states. The family started to leave. The wife, who is divorced from the husband, threatened him. She stated that she would do him bodily harm. The court officers escorted the wife out of the courthouse but she was not arrested. All parties were scheduled to appear on August 18, 2008, in the delinquency situation with the son. Because the wife had threatened him, the husband requested that the court issue a temporary protection order under domestic violence statutes. The hearing on the protection order was set for three days later on the same day as the delinquency hearing.
When the wife arrived at the courthouse on August 18, 2008, for the delinquency hearing involving her son, she was approached by her husband’s daughter from a previous marriage. The daughter had a copy of the temporary protective order and attempted to serve the wife with it. The wife ignored her and proceeded into the building. Inside the building, the daughter approached the wife again. They were in the lobby of the courthouse. The daughter went up to the wife and dropped the service papers on the floor in front of her feet and told her that she had been served. The date of the inquest on those papers was for later that same day of August 18, 2008. The wife did not appear at the inquest.