Digital Garage US v. Cochran CA4/3

Filed 12/16/25 Digital Garage US v. Cochran CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

DIGITAL GARAGE US, INC.,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G063388

v. (Super. Ct. No. 30-2023- 01345692) HEATHER COCHRAN, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Orange County, Glenn Mondo, Temporary Judge. (Pursuant to Cal. Const., art. VI, § 21.) Affirmed. Heather Cochran, in pro. per., for Defendant and Appellant. Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass, Hannah L. Jones and Paige B. Pulley for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Heather Cochran appeals from the workplace violence restraining order imposed on her pursuant to section 527.8 of the Code of Civil Procedure.1 The trial court ordered restrictions on Cochran’s contact with the president and an advisor of her former employer, Digital Garage US, Inc. (Digital Garage), as well as on her use of Digital Garage’s company-wide e-mail address, after she made several graphic and disturbing threats of violence in a series of e-mail communications. We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY In August 2023, Digital Garage petitioned for a workplace violence restraining order pursuant to section 527.8 against Cochran (the petition), whose employment with Digital Garage had terminated almost a decade earlier. The petition was brought on the ground Cochran had sent dozens of threatening e-mails to Digital Garage employees, officers, and board members which put them and certain of their immediate family members in fear of their safety. The petition specifically sought protection for its president H.M. as well as for J.I., one of Digital Garage’s advisors and former directors, as they were particularly targeted in the e-mails. The petition is supported by H.M.’s nine-page declaration in which he provided detailed descriptions and quotes from the e-mails Cochran sent during May 2023 to August 2023. Copies of those e-mails are authenticated in and attached to H.M.’s declaration. The petition accurately summarizes the e-mails as containing “racist, hate[]-filled speech, and explicit threats of violence including that [Cochran] plans to bomb and murder [Digital Garage] employees of Japanese descent.”