Vexatious Litigation Is Not Persistence. It’s Abuse Wearing Legal Paper.

 

Vexatious litigation is one of the clearest ways an abuser turns the legal system into a weapon. It is not about seeking justice or resolving disputes. It is about using the process itself to punish, exhaust, and control. To the person on the receiving end, it feels endless. To courts, once the pattern is visible, it is unmistakable.

Vexatious litigation occurs when someone repeatedly files meritless, repetitive, or harassing legal actions. The filings may technically comply with procedure, but they lack substance, probable cause, or a legitimate legal purpose. Narcissistic abusers rely on this tactic because they believe volume equals power. They assume that if they keep filing, you will run out of money, energy, or hope.

They file the same claims after losing. They repackage dismissed allegations with minor changes. They flood the court with motions, objections, and emergency filings. They appeal losses not to correct errors but to prolong control. Each filing forces you to respond. Each response costs you something. That is the point.

What abusers do not anticipate is that repetition without merit is evidence. Courts are built to tolerate disagreement. They are not built to tolerate harassment disguised as litigation. Judges are trained to recognize when the legal system is being used as a tool of coercion rather than a means of resolution.

Vexatious litigation leaves a clear paper trail. Case numbers multiply. Dismissals accumulate. Judges issue warnings. Motions are denied for the same reasons over and over. Over time, the court record stops looking like a dispute and starts looking like a campaign. Once that shift happens, the abuser loses the advantage they thought they had.

When vexatious litigation is established, courts have powerful remedies. They can dismiss cases with prejudice. They can impose sanctions. They can order the abuser to pay attorney fees. They can restrict future filings or require court permission before new cases are accepted. Some courts formally designate a litigant as vexatious, a status that follows them and severely limits their ability to weaponize the system again.

Vexatious litigation also strengthens other claims. Once proceedings terminate in your favor, the same pattern can support malicious prosecution or abuse of process actions. What once felt like endless defense becomes proof of intent. Volume becomes liability.

There is also a psychological miscalculation at work. Narcissistic abusers believe the court will only see each filing in isolation. They rely on your exhaustion and the system’s slowness. They do not expect the record to be assembled as a whole. They do not expect their own filings to be used against them. But that is exactly what happens.

For survivors, the strategy is restraint and record keeping. Do not mirror their behavior. Do not flood the court emotionally. Preserve every filing, order, and ruling. Track outcomes. Track repetition. Let the pattern speak louder than your pain. Judges trust patterns more than narratives.

Vexatious litigation is meant to break you. In practice, it often breaks the abuser’s credibility instead. Once the court recognizes the abuse, the legal system stops being their weapon and becomes their liability.