Section NEW-7 - [Newly enacted section not yet numbered] [Effective 1/1/2025] Court findings(a) If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that a party is engaging in abusive litigation, and that any or all of the motions or actions pending before the court are abusive litigation, the litigation shall be dismissed, denied, stricken, or resolved by other disposition with prejudice.(b) In addition to dismissal or denial of any pending abusive litigation within the jurisdiction of the court, the court shall enter an order restricting abusive litigation. The order restricting abusive litigation shall: (1) Impose all costs of any abusive litigation action pending in the court at the time of the court's finding pursuant to subsection (a) against the party advancing the abusive litigation;(2) Award the other party reasonable attorneys' fees and costs for responding to the abusive litigation action, including the cost of seeking the order restricting abusive litigation; and(3) Identify the party protected by the order restricting abusive litigation and impose prefiling restrictions upon the party found to have engaged in abusive litigation for a period of no more than seventy-two months; provided that the prefiling restrictions may be extended if the party found to have engaged in abusive litigation, since the effective date of the order, has engaged in further abusive litigation or caused further abuse, including "coercive control", "domestic abuse", "extreme psychological abuse", and "malicious property damage" as those terms are defined in section 586-1.(c) If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the litigation does not constitute abusive litigation, the court shall enter written findings and the litigation shall proceed. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as limiting the court's inherent authority to control the proceedings and litigants before the court.(d) This section shall not preclude the person who is protected by the order restricting abusive litigation from pursuing any other remedy under law or in equity.Added by L 2024, c 252,§ 2, eff. 1/1/2025.