Court Dismisses Vexatious Litigant’s Sexual Assault Lawsuit, Noting Inconsistencies with Evidence, Claims in Other Cases
When plaintiffs file enough cases that courts view as frivolous, the courts can generally declare the plaintiffs to be “vexatious litigants,” and thus limit their ability to litigate future cases unless there’s a preliminary showing that the cases are likely to be meritorious. The rules vary from state to state, but California has a pretty well worked out system for dealing with such matters, and a list of thousands of vexatious litigants.
The March 6, 2025 decision by Judge Sarah Heidel in Doe v. Suarez (appeal pending) illustrates how this system can work in getting vexatious litigants’ cases dismissed. And the case also shows the value to opposing parties of being able to find a vexatious litigant’s past cases—and therefore one reason to forbid pseudonymous litigation by litigants who appear likely to be potentially vexatious. (Disclosure: The Jane Doe in this case had unsuccessfully sued me for having identified some of her past pseudonymous lawsuits.) Here’s an excerpt from the case:
This case arises from an allegation of sexual assault. According to the complaint, plaintiff Jane Doe met defendant online and the two arranged to meet for dinner. Following dinner, and after an evening of heavy drinking, plaintiff alleges defendant raped her. After that encounter the two exchanged texts for another month and a half. Plaintiff alleges that during this time she came to believe that defendant had supplied her with alcohol at their first date “with the intention of raping her.[“] …
[Plaintiff] had been placed on the list of vexatious litiga[nts] by the Judicial Coun[cil] …. A vexatious litigant is “a person who has, while acting in propria persona, initiated or prosecuted numerous meritless litigations, relitigated or attempted to relitigate matters previously determined against him or her, repeatedly pursued unmeritorious or frivolous tactics in litigation, or who has previously been declared a vexatious litigant in a related action.” …
{“In any litigation pending in any court of this state, at any time until final judgment is entered, a defendant may move the court, upon notice and hearing, for an order requiring the plaintiff to furnish security or for an order dismissing the litigation …. The motion for an order requiring the plaintiff to furnish security shall be based upon the ground, and supported by a showing, that the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant and that there is not a reasonable probability that they will prevail in the litigation against the moving defendant.”}
Defendant seeks an order requiring plaintiff to furnish security of at least $100,000.00 in the instant action or in such other amount as the court finds reasonable …. To determine whether plaintiff is required to furnish security, “the court shall consider any evidence, written or oral, by witnesses or affidavit, as may be material to the ground of the motion.” To that end, the court may weigh the evidence presented on the motion in determining whether the vexatious litigant has a reasonable probability of success on her claim….
“When considering a motion to declare a litigant vexatious under section 391.1, the trial court performs an evaluative function. The court must weigh the evidence to decide both whether the party is vexatious based on the statutory criteria and whether he or she has a reasonable probability of prevailing.[“] Accordingly, the court does not assume the truth of a litigant’s factual allegations and it may receive and weigh evidence before deciding whether the litigant has a reasonable chance of prevailing. The burden is on the motion is on the moving party.
Defendant argues that plaintiff does not have a reasonable probability of prevailing on based on the written statements she made contemporaneous to the alleged incident, plaintiff’s statements to law enforcement officers, and her plaintiff’s conduct in other litigation. Defendant also offers his own sworn statement….
In his declaration, defenda
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