Law Lessons from C.C. V. T.R., App. Div., A-3670-10T1, February 3, 2012:

In relevant part (as applied to this case), the offense of harassment is committed when a person “with purpose to harass another . . . [e]ngages in any other course of alarming conduct or of repeatedly committed acts with purpose to alarm or seriously annoy such other person.” N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4(c). The word “harass” must be given its ordinary meaning, namely, to annoy, torment, wear out or exhaust the intended victim. State v. Castagna, 387 N.J. Super. 598, 607 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 188 N.J. 577 (2006). Two distinct elements must be established to prove the offense of harassment: a purpose to harass and an action under subsection (a), (b) or (c). Grant v. Wright, 222 N.J. Super. 191, 196 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 111 N.J. 562 (1988). A specific finding of purpose to harass is necessary for a conviction. It is not sufficient for the plaintiff to merely prove that the conduct in question had that effect; the plaintiff must prove that the defendant engaged in the conduct in question for the specific purpose of harassment. State v. Hoffman, 149 N.J. 564, 576-77 (1997).

Even though the Act is remedial legislation that must be construed broadly, see N.J.S.A. 2C:25-18 (“encourag[ing] the broad application of the remedies available under th[e] [A]ct”), the courts have recognized that expanding the concept of harassment beyond its statutory definition could afford matrimonial litigants an unwarranted advantage, namely, the bringing of charges under the domestic violence statute, contrary to legislative intent. Corrente, supra, 281 N.J. Super. at 250; Peranio, supra, 280 N.J. Super. at 55-57. The courts recognized in both Corrente v. Corrente, 281 N.J. Super. 243 (App. Div. 1995), and Peranio v. Peranio, 280 N.J. Super. 47 (App. Div. 1995), that the process of separation and divorce frequently triggers heated emotions and the uttering of vague threats that do not rise to the level of harassment under N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4.

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