Victims of the Statute

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="042fd5a3.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="046413d0.gif" border=0 width="65" height="61" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#333366" FACE="Arial" ><B><IMG SRC="0470e2d0.jpg" border=0 width="270" height="45" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=35 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="043d2063.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04403043.jpg"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="10" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="705" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 HEIGHT= 438 WIDTH="279"><div> Victims of the Statute</div> <bR> <div> <U>Actual Case Studies of Injustices </U></div> <div> <U>Under the "Vexatious Litigant" Statute</U><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants" (Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1914)</div> <bR> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 WIDTH="371"><div> <U>Victims of the Statute:</U><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> The phrase "vexatious litigant" conjurs up an image of someone filing zillions of groundless lawsuits. In a few isolated cases that may have been true. Those are the cases that were published. Those are the cases held up by the bar associations to lend dignity to the statute. [Note that the bar associations originally sponsored this statute which applies only to those who fail to hire a lawyer.]<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> The reality however is very different. </div> <div> In the vast majority of the cases (at least based on our initial research of court records) it is simple, ordinary people who are victims of the "vexatious litigant"statute. <B>Unscrupulous lawyers use it as a tactical weapon</B>. Most of those on the Judicial Council's blacklist did nothing "vexatious"at all. Most of them are too poor to hire a lawyer. Some of them had never before been involved in any litigation. Some of them were the Defendants in the action (contrary to the letter and spirit of the statute intended to protect defendants not plaintiffs). </div> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 75 WIDTH="279"><div>  <script language="JavaScript"> </script> <script language="JavaScript1.1"> </script> <script language="JavaScript1.2"> </script> <script language="JavaScript1.3"> </script> <script> </script> <noscript><img src="/allcount/counter.cgi" border="0"></noscript>  </div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="371"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="75" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="371" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>