In a family law Action, the Applicant, E.T. was declared a vexatious litigant and had his Action summarily dismissed. The Applicant applied to the Court of Appeal in two separate Applications seeking permission to appeal the lower Court’s Decision to summarily dismiss, and to declare him vexatious.

McDonald J.A. noted that pursuant to Rule 14.5(1)(j) a person who has been declared vexatious in the Court from which they seek to appeal must obtain permission to appeal. Justice McDonald referred to the general test for permission to appeal under Rule 14.5:

(a) There is an important question of law or precedent;

(b) There is a reasonable chance of success on appeal; and

(c) The delay will not unduly hinder the progress of the action or cause undue prejudice.

His Lordship stated that “a vexatious litigant bears the further burden of proving that the appeal is not an abuse of process and there are reasonable grounds for proceeding”. Justice McDonald noted that the indicia of abuse of process includes:

…starting proceedings where the issues have already been decided; actions that cannot possibly succeed; bringing proceedings where no person can reasonably expect to obtain relief; or where the grounds and issues have been rolled forward into subsequent actions and repeated…

McDonald J.A. observed that the material filed by the Applicant was “replete with scandalous, baseless and irrelevant allegations”. The Applicant had also started proceedings where the issues had already been decided in favour of the Respondent. In the result, Justice McDonald dismissed both Applications for permission to appeal the Court of Queen’s Bench Decisions.