Litigation Abuse

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

1. The person engaging in this behavior is your current or former intimate partner, which is defined as:
   
   1. your current or former spouse or domestic partner;
   2. someone you have a child with, unless the child was conceived through sexual assault; or
   3. someone you are currently dating or have dated, as long as you both are at least 13 years old;¹
2. The person engaging in this behavior has been found to have committed domestic violence against you by:
   
   1. a domestic violence protection order, stalking protection order, civil anti-harassment order, sexual assault protection order, vulnerable adult protection order, extreme risk protection order, or a protection order entered under former chapter 26.50 of the law;
   2. a parenting plan with restrictions based on:
      
      1. a history of domestic violence;
      2. an assault or fear of an assault that causes serious bodily injury; or
      3. any sexual assault; or
   3. a restraining order entered under Chapters 26.09, 26.26A, or 26.26B of the law, as long as the judge made a specific finding that the order was necessary due to domestic violence;² and
3. The litigation is intended to harass or intimidate you, or to keep contact with you.²

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. an 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; or
3. at least one of the issues the abuser is bringing up in the case has already been decided by a different court, and the abuser lost that claim.³ 

¹ R.C.W. § 7.105.010(21)
² R.C.W. § 26.51.020(1)(a)
³ R.C.W. § 26.51.020(1)(b)