Restraining Order Against Rep. Diego Hernandez Dismissed Before Hearing

Andrea Valderrama, a former City Council candidate and chair of the David Douglas School Board, moved to dismiss the case she had brought.

Rep. Diego Hernandez. (Sam Gehrke)
By Rachel Monahan

A restraining order filed by Andrea Valderrama, a former City Council candidate and chair of the David Douglas School Board, against state Rep. Diego Hernandez (D-East Portland) was dismissed March 25.

Valderrama filed a motion for dismissal of the order she had received. A hearing on the restraining order had been scheduled for March 26. Multnomah Circuit Court Judge Morgan Wren Long dismissed the case.

Hernandez's attorney, Jordan New, says Hernandez provided "nothing" in exchange for the dismissal. (A mutual no-contact order had been part of negotiations between the parties.)

"We did not agree to the dismissal because we wanted to have a trial so that the facts of the case would come to light," says New.

Valderrama's original March 3 filing for the restraining order, which she was granted, alleged violent and threatening behavior by Hernandez, including an instance last year when she said Hernandez became angry while drinking and threw things at her. Hernandez denied the allegations.

Valderrama declined to comment for this story.

The reason she offered in the petition for withdrawing the request for a restraining order: "I am no longer in reasonable fear for my physical safety."

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