Ops #5 - My Accountant has a Gun - Part III

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The next day I was contacted by our corporate legal counsel, who insisted that we obtain a restraining order from a local court to make sure that Jim could not return to the company. I learned that a restraining order can only be issued to keep someone away from a person and not a business. As the head of the company, and since the actual threat had been against someone not in the state, the restraining order named me as the person that Jim could not come near. I was really a proxy for the whole company because the actual wording of the order said he couldn’t come within 200 feet of me, my home, and my place of work (it also included my wife and children and their work and schools).


We thought that because Jim lived in another state, he would not appear to contest the restraining order. If the defendant does not appear, the judge will normally issue the order. I went to the court house with a local attorney and our HR manager at the appointed time and was surprised to see Jim in the courtroom. He had returned to California and hired a lawyer to represent him. He intended to fight the restraining order because he feared having this in his record would impact his ability to get consulting work.

I didn’t realize that the appointed date and time was actually a trial date, and that since there was a plaintiff and a defendant present, we immediately commenced a trial. It took about three hours for both sides to present witnesses and cross examine me, the HR manager, and Jim. I testified that Jim was a good employee until this incident and there was no evidence that he actually intended to carry out his threat. I told the judge that it was definitely a bit frightening on the day of the incident. Jim said he was just blowing off steam and had no intention of hurting anyone. I thought the judge would rule that a restraining order was not necessary and that we had over reacted, but he didn’t. He came down firmly on the side of the company and said that with the number of times that employees had actually returned to get revenge for perceived grievances, companies had to take all threats seriously and issued the restraining order for three years.

Yes, this really happened.