The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2025 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Subchapter
005
:
ABUSIVE LITIGATION
(Cite as: 15 V.S.A. § 1184)
-
§ 1184. Burden of proof
(a) If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that a party is engaging in
abusive litigation and that any or all of the motions or actions pending before the
court are abusive litigation, the litigation shall be dismissed, denied, stricken,
or resolved by other disposition with prejudice.
(b) After providing the parties an opportunity to be heard on any order or sanctions to
be issued, the court may enter an order restricting abusive litigation that may include
conditions deemed necessary and appropriate including:
(1) awarding the other party reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of responding to the
abusive litigation, including the cost of seeking the order restricting abusive litigation;
and
(2) identifying the party protected by the order and imposing prefiling restrictions upon
the party found to have engaged in abusive litigation that pertains to any future
litigation against the protected party or the protected party’s dependents.
(c) If the court finds that the litigation does not constitute abusive litigation, the
court shall enter written or oral findings and the litigation shall proceed. Nothing
in this section or chapter shall be construed as limiting the court’s inherent authority
to control the proceedings and litigants before it. (Added 2023, No. 48, § 1, eff. September 1, 2023.)