Self-Represented Litigants Research Project on Vexatious Litigants

A report by the Self-Represented Litigants Research Project (SRLRP) recently came to my attention.

It is about how the description of some litigants as vexatious has often been applied to self-represented litigants in Canada.

Based on an analysis of matters in its caselaw database, the SRLRP reports that:

"we are already seeing a number of trends in the case law that we believe are important to highlight. These include an overlap between cases in the database which have been been flagged as raising 'procedural fairness' issues (where an SRL has made mistakes which appear to be a direct consequence of their lack of knowledge and familiarity with the process, despite best efforts) and those in which they are formally designated as a vexatious litigant. As well, the relationship between CLD cases involving disabilities, substantial or punitive costs, and vexatiousness raise concerns about conflation between intentional process 'abuse' and genuine confusion and mistakes, which we have drawn attention to before ... This report provides more evidence pointing to this problem."

The NSRLP, which flows out of the work conducted by Dr. Julie Macfarlane, Faculty of Law of the University of Windsor, describes itself as a clearinghouse for resources, research data, new initiatives, training materials and other information that affects and reflects the SRL phenomenon.