Proietti v Proietti

In *Proietti v Proietti*, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered an application by the respondents for a vexatious proceedings order against Mr Philip Proietti. The dispute concerned Mr Proietti's repeated attempts to litigate matters that had already been determined by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, and in respect of which an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court had been rejected.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether Mr Proietti's conduct met the threshold for making a vexatious proceedings order under section 8(1) of the *Vexatious Proceedings Act 2008* (NSW). This required the Court to determine if Mr Proietti had, with a certain frequency, instituted proceedings that were an abuse of process or were without reasonable grounds.

The Court reasoned that Mr Proietti had indeed reagitated the same points on multiple occasions, demonstrating a pattern of instituting proceedings that were without reasonable grounds and constituted an abuse of process. The Court noted the significant number of previous proceedings and applications that had been dismissed, highlighting the futility of further litigation on these matters. The Court applied the principles established in previous cases concerning vexatious litigants, emphasizing the need to balance the right of access to the courts with the protection of the public and the administration of justice from vexatious conduct.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal made an order pursuant to section 8(7) of the *Vexatious Proceedings Act 2008* (NSW), prohibiting Mr Philip Proietti from instituting any further proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, including in the Court of Appeal, against Mr Peter Proietti or the trustees for sale, concerning the matters that had been litigated in the numerous prior proceedings.