Walker v. Brizendine
Sep 16, 2016OUTCOME: The appeal was successful. The appellate court reversed and remanded the case for a new hearing.
I filed an appeal on behalf of my client. The district court granted the adverse party's petition for an order of protection from stalking. I was hired to appeal the decision. I argued that the distri ... ct court committed reversible error by failure to follow K.S.A. 2015 Supp. 60-31a05(a) which states that the district court "shall advise the parties of their right to be represented by counsel" at the hearing on the petition. The Court of Appeals found that the context in which the legislature used the word "shall" indicates that it intended the advisement to the parties to be mandatory rather than directory.
