Union Leader Hit with Three-year Restraining Order

Long-time Union Leader Receives Longest Restraining Order Possible

PALM SPRPINGS —A Riverside County Superior Court Judge on Thursday granted College of the Desert Area 4 Trustee and former COD president Joel L. Kinnamon and a three-year restraining order against Joseph “Joe” Duffle, president of United Food and Commercial Union, Local 1167, following a nearly three-day hearing in Riverside County Superior Court

In addition, Judge D. Elless denied Duffle a Workplace After Violence Restraining Order against Kinnamon based on “Insufficiency of court documents.”

For the next three years, the once highly respected union leader must stay at least 100 yards from Kinnamon and Christopher Parman, his spouse, their home, their workplaces, and their vehicles, as ordered by the court.

Duffle cannot own, buy, or try to buy or possess firearms, according to the court order.

“While attending a local event In late January 2024, I was assaulted and physically battered by UFCW Local 1167 President Joe Duffle. It took nearly ten months before we were able to present our case and evidence to a Riverside County superior court judge during three days of testimony. Today, my husband and I were granted a three-year restraining order against Mr. Duffle based on evidence of his unlawful violence, a credible threat of violence or stalking towards us,” Kinnamon told Uken Report. “In addition, his claims against me were all denied due to an insufficiency of evidence; or in other words, he lied about what happened on that dreadful day. In politics, we can disagree on issues or circumstances, but the use of violence is never appropriate in a civilized society.”

Duffle did not return a request for comment.

It is a major victory for Kinnamon who earlier this year sought a temporary restraining order against the union leader following an incident at a Democratic Club in which Duffle became aggressive.

In his reason for filing the TRO at that time, Kinnamon wrote, “The physical battery included being forcibly shoved backwards onto a folding table, hit with closed fists to my chest, and multiple verbal threats that he would ‘take me out’ repeated over and over. Mr. Duffle is approximately 6’4”, 240 pounds, and nearly 10 years younger than me. I fear that given the chance again, he would carry-out his repeated threats of ‘taking me out.’

Duffle is 53. Kinnamon, 63, is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds.

The fear Kinnamon feels is palpable as he reiterated his fright in his TRO statement.

“I fear he will do what he repeated over and over in a fit of rage, that he would ‘take me out!’”

The three-year restraining order stems from one of the lowest points of the 2024 campaign season in the Coachella Valley. During a Q&A Duffle punched Kinnamon.

The two had never met until that day,

You may read Kinnamon’s entire reason for seeking the TRO here: https://ukenreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Filing-for-TRO-Court.pdf