Bill > A5746

Introduced Session

This bill imposes civil monetary penalties for frivolous litigation in domestic violence cases. Under current law, in civil cases, if the court finds at any time that a non-prevailing party has engaged in frivolous litigation, the court may award the other party litigation costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. In determining whether a complaint, counterclaim, cross-claim, or defense is frivolous, the court may consider the pleadings, discovery, or evidence presented showing that litigation was commenced or continued in bad faith, or solely for the purpose of harassment, delay, or malicious injury, or that the non-prevailing party knew or should have known that its litigation position was 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. Under the bill, in civil domestic violence cases, the court may also consider whether the evidence shows that frivolous litigation was commenced or continued as part of a pattern of coercive control against a victim of domestic violence. Coercive control includes, but is not limited to, abuse of the legal process such as threatening to make or making baseless reports to the police, the courts, or other government agencies. The bill recognizes that frivolous retaliatory litigation is sometimes used as a tactic in domestic violence cases, which only goes to further the abuse. If the court finds that a party to a domestic violence case has engaged in frivolous litigation, the court will impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for the first instance, $10,000 for the second instance, and $15,000 for the third or each subsequent instance, in addition to any other relief which may be granted. Civil penalties collected under the bill will be forwarded to the Domestic Violence Victims' Fund.

AI Summary

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Jessica Ramirez (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee (on 06/12/2025)

Official Document