which is why Ashley was able to successfully obtain an HRO
We don't even know that to be the case from the face of the document:
Based on that and
other customized differences between Aaron's order and April's order pointed out earlier, it's clear enough that the reason why the final HRO was issued was because Aaron appeared with counsel prepared to contest it and some non-zero perceived risk that he might prevail prompted Ashley and her counsel to negotiate a mutual settlement agreeing to the HRO's bare issuance subject to myriad stipulations. His entering into that voluntary agreement to simply keep his yap shut about her on his show essentially
cost him nothing, A) so long as it wouldn't interfere with child custody (which it didn't due to various stipulations carved out in the final draft for that purpose), and B) so long as it would explicitly make no findings about the merits of Ashley's allegations one way or another (which it didn't), so that they wouldn't have any prior adjudication to incorporate by reference into any future legal cases or, say, any boxing licensure process for example.
Perhaps if Aaron had known at the time that the case was publicly accessible, he might have contested it to the bitter end in hopes of vindication and might have even prevailed on "just jokes" grounds, First Amendment grounds, and/or blaming-April grounds that would have cost him nothing at the time of the April 19th contested hearing when he and April were already splitting up, but as it sits the mutual agreement effectively robs us and USA Boxing of any way to know whether Ashley's case as stated would have succeeded on its own merits.
The question I have is the reason behind the fact that neither Ashley nor Aaron attempted the same course of action with Melton.
IIRC the last Aaron claimed on that front was that Ashley and her lawyer laid some groundwork in that direction that got so far along as her lawyer contacting Aaron for a detailed statement that he characterized as something less than a deposition but more than a phone call, which sounded like an interview for purposes of preparing an affidavit for him to sign. Assuming for the sake of argument that he was telling the truth about that, there could be several reasons why things never progressed from that stage to anything public:
1. Ashley's lawyer could have foreshadowed a petition with a cease and desist letter that elicited Melton's toothless assurances to stop talking about the kids or perhaps even negotiation of a more enforceable NDA with scope limited to talking about the kids with any sexual connotation. It would take timestamped quotes of him continuing those comments very recently to disprove this theory.
2. Ashley could have been overly optimistic in having her lawyer do so much preparatory work only for the lawyer to later do his homework and advise her that a Minnesota court wouldn't have sufficient jurisdiction over Melton in this instance, and perhaps also that she would be less likely to prevail in a Nevada court with whatever their standard for granting an HRO is, and/or needing to start from scratch with the expense of Nevada-licensed counsel was more than she could stomach.
3. It could be that Ashley and her lawyer at first didn't fully understand what they were getting into when it comes to Melton having a reputation for being surprisingly litigious, with examples including (but not limited to) a case where a petitioner
in Melton's own jurisdiction complained of Melton's various harassment that arguably impacted him more directly than the attenuated connection Ashley has to work with, and even
that petitioner wasn't eligible for an HRO when Melton fought it in a Nevada court and
won with the very sort of "just jokes" and "muh freeze peach" defense that Aaron
should have fought and won his own case with:
[L]
[L]
Upon getting to know Melton more from a prior history like the circus in that video coupled with whatever curt fuck-you letter Melton or his lawyer would have sent in response to any cease and desist letter Ashley's lawyer may well have already tried, Ashley would have been right to nope the fuck out out after reassessing all the unanticipated hassle and expense involved for so little to gain. None of that would be inconsistent with Aaron having told the truth that Ashley was seriously pursuing it
at first, and he'll probably never bring it up again because admitting that Melton successfully backed Ashley off would somehow be perceived by fans and a-logs alike as another L for the Toe.