The vexatious litigant.

AuthorTodd, Trevor
PositionReprint

Vexatious litigation generally involves legal proceedings brought solely to harass or oppress the opposing party. Vexatious litigation may range from a first-time, frivolous lawsuit to repetitive, meritless applications brought within an otherwise proper lawsuit. In a nutshell, vexatious litigation involves an abuse or misuse of the legal system for the litigant's own ends.

In the case of O'Neill v. Deacons, 2007 ABQB 754, a dispute over a dog, vexatious litigants were described as follows:

[25] What the various common law and statutory criteria suggest is that vexatious litigants are those who persistently exploit and abuse the processes of the court in order to achieve some improper purpose or obtain some advantage. Vexatious litigants tend to be self represented, and quite often the motivation appears to be to punish or wear the other side down through the expense of responding to persistent, fruitless applications. This is why the failure to pay costs for such applications is a significant element in determining whether a litigant is vexatious. Vexatious litigants may be broadly categorized into two groups:

* those with mental health concerns who launch multiple legal actions against diverse targets, and

* those, unsuccessful in a lawsuit, who become aggrieved and refuse to accept defeat. They hopelessly persist, attempting to re-litigate their case.

Vexatious litigants abuse the court process, often with a complete disregard for court orders, while paradoxically seeking their own court orders. One sometimes wonders if they are operating under a delusional belief that eventually they will find a judge who will completely understand them and make things "right."

As vexatious litigants are usually self-represented, they are initially given a certain amount of leeway. Only with time does the litigant's obsession become clear. Ultimately that persistence becomes evidence of the party's unreasonableness.

We learned first-hand about vexatious litigants in 1982 after winning a successful civil claim. Thereafter, the defendant appealed--alleging the trial judge had been bribed. The defendant went on to sue several parties including the Attorney General and many downtown Vancouver law firms. Ultimately, the court granted an order prohibiting him from commencing any further court proceedings except with leave of the court.

Such orders have been made against litigants ranging from the Church of Scientology, to incarcerated malcontents, to...

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