In November 2021, the Westchester Family Court issued an "Order on Default" — a gag order — restraining Dad from posting blogs and displaying Evie's likeness, and ordering that existing postings, blogs and likenesses be "erased, deactivated and deleted."

The Order to Show Cause

On October 14, 2021, the court-appointed Attorney for the Child, Donna M. Genovese, Esq. of Goldschmidt & Genovese, LLP, initiated an Order to Show Cause requesting that:

(i) Dad, Stephen Grant Russell, and/or any persons, entities and/or agents acting on his behalf be restrained from posting, uploading blogs and displaying the likeness of Evelyn Grace Walsh (i.e. photographs, animations, screen shots, drawings and the like) and disparaging Evelyn Grace Walsh's relatives in any and all public forums and/or social media platforms; and that the existing postings, blogs and likenesses be erased, deactivated and deleted;

(ii) Dad and/or any persons, entities and/or agents acting on his behalf be restrained from recording any visits between Evelyn Grace Walsh and Dad and/or Linda Russell.

Entered on Default

The Order to Show Cause was served on October 22, 2021. Opposition papers were due on or before October 29, 2021, with an in-person court appearance required on November 5, 2021.

No opposition papers were filed. Dad, who was representing himself pro se, did not appear on November 5, 2021. The court proceeded to hear the Order to Show Cause with the following parties present: Attorney for Child Donna M. Genovese, Petitioner Tara Katelyn Walsh, Attorney for Petitioner Christopher S. Weddle of Timko & Moses, LLP, Linda Russell and Attorney for Linda Russell Max Di Fabio of Di Fabio & Associates, P.C.

The Hon. Michelle I. Schauer of the Family Court of the State of New York, County of Westchester, granted the order on default.

The Impact

This is the order that ultimately led to StevieLovesEvie.com being taken down. The gag order did not address, nor was it issued in response to, any finding of falsehood in the blog's content. Rather, the order was framed around the child's likeness and "disparagement" of the Walsh family.

The timing is notable: it came after the Walsh family depositions had been completed and their scheme had begun to unravel, as documented in the Scheme Undone post, and just months before the February 2022 battery trial verdict that would find Walsh guilty on all counts.

Dad later filed a motion to vacate the gag order. On March 22, 2023, the Appellate Division struck down the blanket deletion provision as unconstitutional and found the order was never actually entered on default — contradicting the lower court's own characterization of its proceedings.