Bill > S885

Introduced Session

This bill establishes protections from abusive and controlling litigation for victims of domestic violence. Specifically, this bill provides additional protections for victims of domestic violence who suffer continued abuse in the form of abusive and controlling litigation. "Abusive and controlling litigation" is defined under the bill to mean litigation initiated, advanced, or continued by a person that is filed in bad faith and primarily for the purpose of delay or malicious injury, or harassing, intimidating, or maintaining contact with the other party. While current law provides relief for citizens in this State who are subjected to baseless or "frivolous" litigation, the relief is limited to certain types of litigation, and typically limits the relief to an award of attorneys' fees and costs. Current law does not provide specific protections for victims of domestic violence who are subjected to ongoing litigation filed in bad faith by their abuser in an attempt to maintain contact with them or cause financial or emotional harm. This bill establishes a process for the court to determine whether a person is an abusive and controlling litigant. Under the bill, the process is initiated upon motion of a victim of domestic violence or on the court's own motion. A person is deemed an abusive and controlling litigant if the person has committed an act of domestic violence pursuant to the provisions of the "Prevention of Domestic Violence Act of 1991"; initiates, advances, or continues litigation against their victim in bad faith and primarily for the purpose of delay; malicious injury; or harassing, intimidating, or maintaining contact with the victim; and the court finds, by a preponderance of the evidence that:· claims, allegations, and other legal contentions in the litigation are without any reasonable basis in law or equity and could not be supported by a good faith argument for an extension, modification, or reversal of existing law, an existing order, or the establishment of a new order; or· allegations and other factual contentions in the litigation are made without evidentiary support; or· one or more of issues that are the basis of the litigation have previously been the subject of litigation filed in the same or another court in this State or any other court of competent jurisdiction and the actions have been litigated and disposed of unfavorably to the alleged abusive and controlling litigant. The provisions of the bill provide that there is a rebuttable presumption that a person is an abusive and controlling litigant if: · the litigation initiated, advanced, or continued by the person allegedly engaging in abusive and controlling litigation involves the same or substantially similar issues between the same or substantially similar parties which have been litigated within the past five years; or· within the past 10 years, a court has determined that person has previously engaged in abusive and controlling litigation or similar conduct; or· within the past 10 years, the party allegedly engaging in abusive and controlling litigation has been found to have initiated, advanced, or continued litigation that was found to have been frivolous. Upon finding that a person is an abusive and controlling litigant, the court is required to enter an order:· dismissing any matter or denying any relief requested pursuant to pending abusive and controlling litigation;· awarding reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, including those associated with a motion filed pursuant to this bill; · providing that the victim is not required to respond any pending or future litigation initiated by the abusive and controlling litigant, unless directed to do so by the court; and· prohibiting the abusive and controlling litigant from initiating, advancing, or continuing litigation involving the victim of the abusive and controlling litigation, except upon leave of court granted upon application submitted in accordance with the rules of court. Nothing in the provisions of the bill is to be deemed to restrict an abusive and controlling litigant from filing, initiating, advancing, or continuing litigation that does not violate the provisions of the bill.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Tony Bucco (R)*,  Patrick Diegnan (D), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document