Strictly Legal | Donald Trump, our vexatious litigator in chief

I will not use this column to list all the terms – favorable and unfavorable – people have used to describe Donald Trump.  The list would be too long and many of the terms unprintable.  But I will offer up one that hasn’t been used much – “vexatious.” 

I realize that “vexatious” sounds like one of those fragrances you see on commercials, featuring some beautiful model with a breathy voice shilling the tiny, overpriced bottle.  But that’s not what it is.  Both federal and state laws address “vexatious litigators.”  Websters defines “vexatious” as “causing or tending to cause annoyance, frustration or worry.” 

Under the United States Code, a “vexatious litigator” is one who “multiplies the proceedings in any case unreasonably and vexatiously.”  In Ohio, a “vexatious litigator” is one who “has habitually, persistently, and without reasonable grounds engaged in vexatious conduct in a civil action or actions . . .  whether the vexatious conduct was against the same party or against different parties in the civil action or actions.”