(a) 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 pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 391.3. 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.

(b) A motion pursuant to subdivision (a) on the grounds that plaintiff is a vexatious litigant pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 391 may be brought only by a person protected by the restraining order. A person filing a motion as described in this subdivision shall not be required to pay a filing fee.

Terms Used In California Code of Civil Procedure 391.1

  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Defendant: means a person (including corporation, association, partnership and firm or governmental entity) against whom a litigation is brought or maintained or sought to be brought or maintained. See California Code of Civil Procedure 391
  • Litigation: means any civil action or proceeding, commenced, maintained or pending in any state or federal court. See California Code of Civil Procedure 391
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Plaintiff: means the person who commences, institutes or maintains a litigation or causes it to be commenced, instituted or maintained, including an attorney at law acting in propria persona. See California Code of Civil Procedure 391
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Security: means an undertaking to assure payment, to the party for whose benefit the undertaking is required to be furnished, of the party's reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees and not limited to taxable costs, incurred in or in connection with a litigation instituted, caused to be instituted, or maintained or caused to be maintained by a vexatious litigant. See California Code of Civil Procedure 391
  • State: includes the District of Columbia and the territories when applied to the different parts of the United States, and the words "United States" may include the district and territories. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Vexatious litigant: means a person who does any of the following:

    California Code of Civil Procedure 391

  • Will: includes codicil. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 84, Sec. 2. (AB 2391) Effective January 1, 2023.)

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