Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: How long does a person remain a vexatious litigant once they are declared one?

A brief review of the vexatious litigant statutes and cases annotated thereto does not reveal either any statutory or case law on the subject. Therefore, I think there are four possibilities:

(1) The status is permanent.

(2) The status is permanent until the litigant can show to the satisfaction of the court that the order should be modified or lifter entirely, i.e., it is sort of like an injunction.

(3) The status is like a judgment, and is no longer enforceable after ten years; or

(4) The status goes away when the litigant no longer could have the status newly applied, due to not having filed X number of suits within Y years. I think this is unlikely.

The true answer is probably embedded in a case somewhere, but unless you're very lucky, no one is going to find and report that answer until you become a client and pay for the necessary research.

Re: How long does a person remain a vexatious litigant once they are declared one?

If the plaintiff is currently in litigation with you and meets the criteria of a vexious litigant, then you may file a motion requiring a security or sanctions. You question is likely to be answered by the statute of limitations for abuse of process which is one or two years depending upon various facts. Call me directly at 16192223504

Re: How long does a person remain a vexatious litigant once they are declared one?

The way that I read Sections 391 and statutes that follow, there does not appear to be any limitation on how long a person would be declared a vexatious litigant. If the 5 restraining order cases all occurred in the last 7 years, you might be able to bring a motion under 391.

However, you should look at Section 391.1. It would appear that the only way to file such a motion is to wait for ANOTHER lawsuit to be filed and then file your motion in that case. I haven't researched the case law to to see if you can actually file a LAWSUIT to have someone declared a vexatious litigation. You might, however, qualify for a filing a maliscious prosecution/abuse of process lawsuit.

Your case sounds interesting and I would like to explore these issues with you a little further. Feel free to contact my office for a consultation.