http://www.lohud.com/article/201310...dyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s&gcheck=1
Charles Oji’s lawsuits didn’t exactly start small. He demanded $1 million from the FBI, more than $4 million from his former landlord, and another $4 million from Verizon.
And then, suddenly, his ambitions became bigger. A lot bigger. In subsequent suits, he demanded $975 septillion from the Yonkers Police Department; that’s 975 followed by 24 zeros. He also demanded $927 septillion from the New York Police Department.
Oji, a two-time graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who later lost his way, is what the courts call a vexatious litigant.
The bane of many a court clerk’s existence, vexatious litigants file lawsuit after lawsuit, each as unrealistic or misplaced as the last.
In Oji’s case, that means at least 13 since 2009. He claimed that he was Jesus Christ after the first several were dismissed. That didn’t help sway judges.
“The only ‘new fact’ cited by Plaintiff — his proclamation that he is Jesus Christ — fails to offer any basis for reconsideration of the order” to dismiss, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos wrote in September, dismissing the suit against the Yonkers police.
Vexatious litigants, also known as serial litigants, have been a feature of the court system since its inception, and court clerks are often the front line when dealing with them.
The most basic barrier against filing a lawsuit is the filing fee, which is $210 in Westchester County and $350 in federal courts in the Southern District of New York. That fee can be waived in rare cases, when a judge finds that the litigant cannot afford it.
But that bar is high, and many judges are loath to bend the rules.
In either case, fees often do not deter the most persistent litigants, like Oji, who figure it’s a small price to pay for what could be an important righting of an injustice, or a big payout, or merely the satisfaction of being an irritant in the side of a powerful institution.
James A. Cohen, a law professor at Fordham University, figures that most of them simply need mental help. He said he has long thought that there should be mechanisms in place for a court to direct a serial litigant to get such treatment, and while courts have the power to bar litigants from filing further suits without prior court approval, most judges consider that measure extreme.
this is trolling at epic levels
Charles Oji’s lawsuits didn’t exactly start small. He demanded $1 million from the FBI, more than $4 million from his former landlord, and another $4 million from Verizon.
And then, suddenly, his ambitions became bigger. A lot bigger. In subsequent suits, he demanded $975 septillion from the Yonkers Police Department; that’s 975 followed by 24 zeros. He also demanded $927 septillion from the New York Police Department.
Oji, a two-time graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who later lost his way, is what the courts call a vexatious litigant.
The bane of many a court clerk’s existence, vexatious litigants file lawsuit after lawsuit, each as unrealistic or misplaced as the last.
In Oji’s case, that means at least 13 since 2009. He claimed that he was Jesus Christ after the first several were dismissed. That didn’t help sway judges.
“The only ‘new fact’ cited by Plaintiff — his proclamation that he is Jesus Christ — fails to offer any basis for reconsideration of the order” to dismiss, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos wrote in September, dismissing the suit against the Yonkers police.
Vexatious litigants, also known as serial litigants, have been a feature of the court system since its inception, and court clerks are often the front line when dealing with them.
The most basic barrier against filing a lawsuit is the filing fee, which is $210 in Westchester County and $350 in federal courts in the Southern District of New York. That fee can be waived in rare cases, when a judge finds that the litigant cannot afford it.
But that bar is high, and many judges are loath to bend the rules.
In either case, fees often do not deter the most persistent litigants, like Oji, who figure it’s a small price to pay for what could be an important righting of an injustice, or a big payout, or merely the satisfaction of being an irritant in the side of a powerful institution.
James A. Cohen, a law professor at Fordham University, figures that most of them simply need mental help. He said he has long thought that there should be mechanisms in place for a court to direct a serial litigant to get such treatment, and while courts have the power to bar litigants from filing further suits without prior court approval, most judges consider that measure extreme.
this is trolling at epic levels
