Litigation Abuse

For you to be able to request an order, all of the following must be true:

1. The person engaging in abusive litigation:
   1. is your current or former family or household member, which is defined as:
      1. someone with whom you are living or have lived;
      2. someone with whom you share or have shared a home;
      3. someone with whom you are having or used to have a sexual relationship;
      4. someone you are dating or have dated;
      5. a spouse or former spouse; or
      6. someone related by blood or marriage; or
   2. has had a civil order or criminal conviction issued against him/her that determined that s/he has stalked or sexually assaulted you;¹
       
2. The person engaging in abusive litigation has been found to have abused, stalked, or sexually assaulted you by:
   
   1. a final abuse prevention order;
   2. a final order against stalking or sexual assault;
   3. a final “foreign abuse prevention order,” which means any protection order similar to the ones listed above that was issued by the court of any other state, territory, or federally recognized Indian tribe;
   4. an order regarding conditions of parent-child contact in cases involving domestic violence;
   5. a conviction for domestic assault, stalking, or sexual assault; or
   6. a determination by a judge that there is probable cause for a charge of domestic assault, if the court has imposed conditions on the abuser’s release pertaining to your safety;² and
       
3. The litigation is intended primarily to abuse, harass, intimidate, or threaten you, or to keep in contact with you.³

You will also have to show that one of the following factors applies in your case:

1. the legal claims against you are not based on:
   1. any existing law;
   2. a reasonable argument that the current law should be changed; or
   3. a reasonable argument for passing a new law;
2. there is no evidence for the factual allegations against you, and none is likely to be found after a reasonable opportunity for investigation; or
3. one or more of the issues that the abuser is using as the basis of the current case against you have already been filed in another court, and the abuser lost in that other court after the issues were litigated.⁴ 

¹ VT ST 15 § 1181(1)(A); see also Complaint for Relief from Abuse on the Vermont Judiciary Website
² VT ST 15 § 1181(1)(B)
³ VT ST 15 § 1181(1)(C)
⁴ VT ST 15 § 1181(1)(D)