FLORIDA’S LEGISLATURE EXPANDS THE SCOPE OF ITS VEXATIOUS LITIGANT LAW

Nazish Zaheer Shah
2 hours ago
3 min read

On June 19, 2000, Florida’s legislature enacted a “Vexatious Litigant Law” codified at § 68.093, Fla. Stats., in an effort to stop, or at least, discourage pro se litigants from wasting judicial resources by filing redundant and meritless claims in Florida courts. i In 2007 Florida’s Fourth DCA found the law to be constitutional, and the Florida Supreme Court refused to review that finding effectively approving the Fourth’s determination of constitutionality. ii

The original version of Florida Statute § 68.093 defined a vexatious litigant as a pro se litigant who filed five or more frivolous lawsuits in the prior 5-year period (excepting actions filed in family law or small claims court). Once a pro se filer was deemed vexatious by a prefiling order, the clerk was prohibited from accepting and filing a new action by the pro se litigant without an order granting leave of court to do so. Litigants who engaged in vexatious litigation while being the subject of a prefiling order were subject to a contempt-of-court order. iii

In the event of pending litigation or filings that mistakenly slipped through the cracks, the court could order the vexatious litigant to post security. If the vexatious litigant failed to post security, the court was required to dismiss the case with prejudice. Under the law, the clerk of the Florida Supreme Court was required to maintain a registry of all vexatious litigants.

Multiple Florida courts have successfully relied on the Vexatious Litigant Law over the last 25 years and in July 2025, Florida’s legislature amended § 68.093 to expand the scope of the law to include family law, probate and small claims actions. iv While maintaining many of the provisions from the 2000 version of the statute, the legislature expanded the definition of a vexatious litigant to include one who repeatedly relitigates previously determined issues, files unnecessary discovery or engages in other frivolous tactics intended to delay an action. The time-period considered for determining whether a litigant filed five prior frivolous actions was also expanded from five years to seven years.

Unlike the earlier version, the 2025 amendment to § 68.093 addresses vexatious behavior by both plaintiffs and defendants so filing of frivolous documents, rather than lawsuits, can also be deemed vexatious. If the vexatious litigant is a defendant, the court may deny any relief requested by the defendant, strike the defendant’s pleadings or filings, or enter a default judgment against the

litigant. v The amended version also clarified that any imposed stay under § 68.093 remained in effect until the court vacated it, granted leave, ordered the posting of security, or dismissed the action. vi

Notably, both the 2000 and 2025 versions of § 68.093 pertain only to frivolous actions and filings, not meritorious claims. Those servicing and enforcing consumer debt obligations have experienced a consistent increase in meritless and redundant pro se filings over the years. Hopefully, the recent expansion of the Vexatious Litigant Law will help prevent frivolous lawsuits and related litigation, or at least minimize the time and money required to resolve them.

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1. In 2000 Florida’s legislature enacted a “Vexatious Litigant Law” codified at § 68.093, Fla. Stats., in an effort to stop, or at least, discourage pro se litigants from wasting judicial resources by filing redundant and meritless claims in Florida courts.

2. In July 2025, Florida’s legislature expanded the scope of the law to include family law, probate and small claims actions and to prohibit not only plaintiffs, but also defendants from engaging in vexatious behavior such as relitigating previously determined issues or filing unnecessary discovery requests or engaging in other frivolous acts intended to delay an action.

3. Those servicing and enforcing consumer debt obligations have experienced a consistent increase in meritless and redundant pro se filings over the years. Hopefully, the recent expansion of the Vexatious Litigant Law will help prevent frivolous lawsuits and related litigation, or at least minimize the time and money required to resolve them.

ⁱ2000 Fla. ALS 314; 2000 Fla. Laws ch. 314; 2000 Fla. SB 154. Future references to the 2000 version of the Vexatious Litigant Law will be to this citation unless indicated otherwise.

ⁱⁱSmith v. Fisher, 980 So. 2d 490 (Fla., 2008).

ⁱⁱⁱ§ 68.093(4), Fla. Stat.

^iv§ 68.093(3)(c)1, Fla. Stat.

^v§ 68.093(2)(c), Fla. Stat.

^vi§ 68.093(3(d), Fla. Stat.