InBrief

The Vexatious Proceedings Act 2008 (NSW) has been proclaimed to commence on 1 December 2008. The objects, as provided in the explanatory notes to the Bill, are:

(a) to enact provisions (which are largely based on model provisions developed by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General) that expand the power of the Supreme Court to make orders restricting proceedings by vexatious litigants, including provisions that enable the court: (i) to make such orders if satisfied that a litigant has frequently instituted or conducted vexatious proceedings, and (ii) to make such orders against persons acting in concert with vexatious litigants, and (iii) to make such orders in relation to proceedings instituted or conducted by litigants in tribunals as well as in courts, and (iv) to take into account, when making such orders, conduct in the courts and tribunals of other Australian jurisdictions, and (b) to confer comparable powers on the Land and Environment Court in relation to vexatious litigants in that court and on the Industrial Court in relation to vexatious litigants in the Industrial Relations Commission, and (c) to repeal section 84 of the Supreme Court Act 1970 and section 70 of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 and to make provision for matters of a savings and transitional nature consequent on the repeal of those sections.

25 November 2008