ALBANY – The appeal of an order of protection issued by Family Court does not become moot when it expires because the order can carry “significant enduring consequences,” the state Court of Appeals decided.

The unanimous court ruled that people who feel they were unfairly named in a protective order should have the chance for their appeals to play out because of both the “severely deleterious” legal repercussions and the serious indirect implications on such things as their chances for future employment.

“Even where the resolution of an appeal may not immediately relieve a party from a currently ongoing court-ordered penalty or obligation to pay a judgment,” Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam (See Profile) wrote for the court, “the appeal is not moot if an appellate decision will eliminate readily ascertainable and legally significant enduring consequences that befall a party as a result of the order which the party seeks to appeal.”