Conjunction junction, what’s your function? Apparently, deciding harassment cases

The words “and,” “but,” and “or” are conjunctions. In case you’ve forgotten, Schoolhouse Rock taught many of us in grade school that conjunctions link words, phrases, and clauses together to form sentences. But in case you were sleeping in class that day, the Minnesota Court of Appeals recently provided a great crash course when it decided a dispute between ex-lovers hinging on the disjunctive conjunction “or.”

Facts

Breana and Matthew Borth were previously married. Before their divorce, Breana sent Matthew a partially nude photo via Snapchat. The social media platform allows you to send pictures and videos that automatically disappear 10 seconds after the recipient views the message.

One caveat: Snapchat recipients may take a screenshot of the picture if they want to hold on to the image for later viewing. That’s what happened here. Matthew sent a screenshot of the picture to Breana’s current significant other and used it to try to blackmail her into a custody arrangement.

Breana filed a petition for a harassment restraining order (HRO), which was initially granted ex parte (or for one side only). After a full hearing, however, the district court dismissed the petition, holding it lacked the intent required for an HRO under Minnesota law.