History and Purpose of Vexatious Litigant Statutes

“The vexatious litigant statutes (Code Civ. Proc., § 391 et seq.) were first codified in 1963. (Camerado Ins. Agency, Inc. v. Superior Court (1993) 12 Cal.App.4th 838, 841, 16 Cal.Rptr.2d 42; Stats.1963, ch. 1471, § 1, p. 3038.) These statutes, which are constitutional (In re Whitaker (1992) 6 Cal.App.4th 54, 56, 8 Cal.Rptr.2d 249), "were enacted to require a person found to be a vexatious litigant to put up security for the reasonable expenses of a defendant who becomes the target of an obsessive and persistent litigant whose conduct can cause serious financial results to the unfortunate object of his or her attack. The purpose of the statutory scheme is to deal with the problem created by the persistent and obsessive litigant who has constantly pending a number of groundless actions, often against the judges and other court officers who decide or were concerned in the decision of previous actions adversely to him." (Childs v. PaineWebber Incorporated (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 982, 993, 35 Cal.Rptr.2d 93 (internal citation omitted).)

Effects on Litigation

The vexatious litigant scheme recently was synopsized in McColm v. Westwood Park Assn. (1998) 62 Cal.App.4th 1211, 1215-1216, 73 Cal.Rptr.2d 288: "The vexatious litigant statute authorizes a 'defendant' to bring a motion to require a 'plaintiff' to furnish security. Defendant must prove that the plaintiff is a 'vexatious litigant' and that there is no reasonable probability that plaintiff will prevail in the litigation. ([Code Civ. Proc.,] § 391.1.) The statute contemplates a hearing to determine whether the plaintiff qualifies as 'vexatious' ([Code Civ. Proc.,] § 391.2) and instructs the court to require security if it finds plaintiff has no reasonable probability of prevailing. Security is 'for the benefit of the moving defendant' and in 'such amount and within such time as the court shall fix.' ([Code Civ. Proc.,] § 391.3.) If security is not furnished as ordered, the 'litigation' shall be dismissed as to the 'defendant for whose benefit it was ordered furnished.' ([Code Civ. Proc.,] § 391.4.) .... [¶] ... [¶] ¶ "Section 391.7, added in 1990 (Stats.1990, ch. 621, § 3, pp. 3072-3073), furnished the courts an additional resource for addressing vexatious litigant problems. This newer section operates beyond the pending case and affects the litigant's future filings. It authorizes a court to 'enter a prefiling order which prohibits a vexatious litigant from filing any new litigation in the courts of this state in propria persona without first obtaining leave of the presiding judge of the court where the litigation is proposed to be filed.' ([Code Civ. Proc.,] § 391.7, subd. (a).) ¶ "When a prefiling order is in force, '[t]he presiding judge shall permit the filing of such litigation only if it appears that the litigation has merit and has not been filed for the purposes of harassment or delay. The presiding judge may condition the filing of the litigation upon the furnishing of security for the benefit of the defendants. ....' ([Code Civ. Proc.,] § 391.7, subd. (b).) If the clerk mistakenly files any litigation presented by a litigant who is subject to a prefiling order, the litigant may be required to seek the presiding judge's permission to proceed. ([Code Civ. Proc.,] § 391.7, subd. (c).) The clerk of any court issuing a prefiling order is to provide a copy of such order to the Judicial Council, which maintains and disseminates annually a list of persons subject to such orders. ([Code Civ. Proc.,] § 391.7, subd. (d).)" (Fns.omitted.)” (People v. Harrison (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 780, 785-786.)

Filing without Approval

A vexatious litigant, who—although subject to a pre-filing order—nevertheless files an improper in propria persona lawsuit, faces the possibility that the lawsuit will be dismissed pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 391.7(c), regardless of the impact that a dismissal will have on the vexatious litigant. (Kovacevic v. Avalon at Eagles’ Crossing Homeowners Assn. (2010) 189 Cal. App. 4th 677, 686-87.)

See also What is an Application for Order to Vacate Prefiling Order and Remove Plaintiff/Petitioner from Judicial Council Vexatious Litigant List?.