The Attorney-General indicates that the proposed legislation will introduce "a new regime for the management and prevention of vexatious litigation in Victorian courts and tribunals".
The Bill aims to improve the effectiveness of the justice system by ensuring that unmeritorious litigation is disposed of at an early stage and that persons are prevented from wasting court time with further unmeritorious cases. This will allow court and judicial resources to be allocated to the determination of meritorious cases, which will reduce delays in the court system for other pending matters.
The Bill enables the Supreme Court, the County Court, the Magistrates' Court and VCAT to make various types of "litigation restraint orders", which increase in severity in accordance with a person's litigation history and pattern of vexatious behaviour. The Children's Court is also given the power to make litigation restraint orders, but only in relation to litigation conducted under the intervention order legislation. The tiered approach to litigation restraint orders promotes early intervention and aims to provide flexibility for the Courts and VCAT to adopt a proportionate response to a person's conduct.
The Bill draws upon recommendations made by the Victorian Parliamentary Law Reform Committee in 2008, and also implements aspects of a Model Bill approved in 2004 by the former Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (Model Bill).
The Bill repeals the vexatious litigation regimes in the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) and the Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act 2010 and re-enacts those regimes in the Bill to align those regimes with the new regime established under the Bill.
