Courts should have simple tools to curb serial appeals, former judge says

Courts should be able to intervene when the same person repeatedly files unfounded lawsuits or appeals, former judge Hannu Laitinen writes in a Helsingin Sanomat opinion article.

Laitinen says he proposed the approach to Finland’s Ministry of Justice about 20 years ago. In his view, the simplest solution would be to let a court refuse to issue a summons or hear an appeal when someone persistently brings cases or challenges decisions.

Courts can identify such litigants, he argues, because the problem involves more than a small number of lawsuits or appeals. The Constitution should not be interpreted as protecting a right to manufacture legal actions that seriously disturb private people’s lives or public activities without a genuine reason, he writes.

If lawmakers are unwilling to make that straightforward change, Laitinen suggests allowing serial litigants to bring a case or appeal only through a lawyer who belongs to the Finnish Bar Association. That could also give the lawyer responsibility for unjustified costs.

He mentions advance payments and limits on appeals concerning areas where the appellant does not live as other, though less effective, options. Laitinen is a former judge from Iisalmi.