In In re Natural Gas Antitrust Cases I, II, III & IV, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Mar. 6, 2006), the Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District, Division One) addressed whether an attorney who regularly represents class action objectors (or who regularly objects on his own behalf when he is a class member) can be found a "vexatious litigant" within the meaning of Code of Civil Procedure sections 391-391.7. The court found that he could, but that an insufficient showing had been made in this particular case. In so holding, it rejected the argument that applying the "vexatious litigant" statutes to unnamed class members would quell the exercise of their due process right to object to proposed class action settlements:
While we agree that nonrepresentative class members should not be discouraged from, or penalized for, asserting valid objections to a proposed class action settlement, policy considerations do not support a blanket exemption that would protect a class member who, for whatever reason, is determined to derail a settlement and engages in abusive litigation tactics toward that end.Slip op. at 11.
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