Salim Mehajer, a disgraced unsuccessful developer, has been barred from initiating lawsuits in NSW after a judge labeled him a “vexatious plaintiff.”
On Thursday, Justice Geoff Lindsay of the NSW Supreme Court ordered the indefinite ban after determining Mehajer was harassing people through the courts.
Salim Mehajer, a disgraced unsuccessful developer, has been barred from initiating lawsuits in NSW after a judge labeled him a “vexatious plaintiff.”
On Thursday, Justice Geoff Lindsay of the NSW Supreme Court ordered the indefinite ban after determining Mehajer was harassing people through the courts.
He claimed their actions in 2016 meant he was unable to pay back creditor loans, which led to his bankruptcy declaration in 2018.
One of his various allegations was that the defendants caused him ‘nervous shock’.
Mehajer – who was previously supported by high-power lawyers – represented himself on Thursday from Cooma jail where he is serving a non-parole period of two years and three months for perverting the course of justice.
He was previously jailed for 77 counts of electoral fraud.
Mehajer told the NSW Supreme Court that he should only be banned from taking further action against his current defendants and that any other ruling would be unfair, the ABC reported.
‘It just restricts me entirely if I was to make any future application. It just creates a great burden on me,’ he said.
‘I think it’s an aberration.’
However, Justice Lindsay was unmoved by his argument and proceeded to ban him from all future civil proceedings.
The defendants’ lawyers also asked Mehajer to be permanently banned for re-visiting the Skypoint Towers lawsuit.
They pointed to his history of 10 other failed civil lawsuits, both related to Skypoint and otherwise, as evidence he was a vexatious litigant.
However, Justice Lindsay dismissed the request and instead announced the whole case was to be permanently shelved:
‘The whole proceedings are to be stayed,’ he said.
‘It was my intention that the stay proposed… would really bring the proceedings to and end unless they are somehow reinvigorated.’
Mehajer’s ban was foreshadowed by Justice Lindsay last Friday after publishing a lengthy judgement which outlined a series of recent cases in which Mehajer acted in a vexatious manner.
Justice Lindsay’s ruling on Thursday means that Mehajer – or anyone representing him – will need to seek a court order before starting any new civil lawsuits.
Mehajer was used to be the sole shareholder of the Skypoint Towers project’s former parent companies, but is no longer involved at all.