Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Slap Fight: A Note on Take-Two, Jackass, and Lawsuits

From DQ Legal Advisor Lee Rawles:
It occurs to me that somewhere within that complaint may be the allegation that Mr. Jackass is now -- and maybe always has been -- a vexatious litigant. Certain jurisdictions around the country prohibit individuals who have been declared "vexatious" from filing additional complaints without those complaints first being reviewed by a judicial officer for merit. This would create an additional bar before Mr. Jackass could file additional litigation (and other courts around the country could take judicial notice of the ruling). Additionally, it may allow for testimony as to his prior bad acts to demonstrate a practice and pattern.

Attached is the wikipedia entry on vexatious litigation (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexatious_litigation). Keep in mind that California is on one end of the spectrum and other jurisdictions' vexatious litigant statutes are not as broadly worded nor as strong. As an aside, I wrote a published law review note on California's vexatious litigant statute back in 1998 ( "The California Vexatious Litigant Statute: A Viable Judicial Tool to Deny the Clever Obstructionists Access?", 72 S. Cal. L. Rev. 275 (1998)). I have not kept up with the statute and cannot say for certain whether things have changed, but I doubt there have been significant revisions.

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