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Session of 2026
SENATE BILL No. 346
By Committee on Judiciary
1-20
AN ACT concerning civil actions and civil procedure; relating to abusive
litigation; prohibiting plaintiffs from filing abusive civil actions against
certain defendants with whom the plaintiff has a current or former
family, household or dating relationship primarily to harass or
maliciously injure such defendant; authorizing courts to impose
prefiling restrictions on such plaintiffs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. (a) If a defendant to a civil action alleges, either by answer
to the civil action or by motion made at any time that the action is pending,
that the action constitutes an abusive civil action or that the person filing
the action is an abusive civil action plaintiff, the court shall conduct a
hearing to determine the merits of the defendant's allegations.
(b) (1) The court shall set the matter for hearing, hear all relevant
testimony and may require any affidavits, evidence or other records that
the court determines is necessary. Evidence of any of the following shall
create a rebuttable presumption that the civil action is an abusive civil
action and the person filing the action is an abusive civil action plaintiff
and prefiling restrictions need to be imposed on the abusive civil action
plaintiff pursuant to subsection (b)(2)(B):
(A) The same or substantially similar issues between the same or
substantially similar parties that are the subject of the alleged abusive civil
action have been litigated within the immediately preceding five years in
another court, and the actions were dismissed on the merits or with
prejudice against the alleged abusive civil action plaintiff;
(B) the alleged abusive civil action plaintiff has used the same or
substantially similar issues that are the subject of the current civil action as
the basis for an adverse complaint against the civil action defendant filed
with a regulatory or licensing board, and the regulatory or licensing board
dismissed the complaint pursuant to the Kansas administrative procedure
act;
(C) the alleged abusive civil action plaintiff has been sanctioned by a
court in this state, another state or the federal government for filing one or
more frivolous or abusive civil actions within the immediately preceding
10 years, and such civil action involves the same or substantially the same
issues between the same or substantially similar parties; or
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(D) a court in another judicial district has determined that a civil
action filed against the civil action defendant was an abusive civil action,
and the abusive civil action plaintiff is under or has been under prefiling
restrictions in that judicial district.
(2) If a court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that a person
filing a civil action is an abusive civil action plaintiff and any or all civil
actions by the abusive civil action plaintiff against the abusive civil action
defendant that are pending before the court are abusive civil actions, such
actions shall be dismissed, and the court shall:
(A) Award to the defendant reasonable attorney fees and costs of
defending the abusive civil action; and
(B) impose prefiling restrictions on any civil action that the abusive
civil action plaintiff attempts to file for a period of not less than 48 months
but not more than 72 months.
(3) If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the
action is not an abusive civil action or that the plaintiff is not an abusive
civil action plaintiff, the court may grant the plaintiff remedies as may be
just, including, but not limited to, granting judgment in favor of the
plaintiff, granting partial judgment in favor of the plaintiff or allowing
factual interpretations in favor of the plaintiff, and the court shall award to
the plaintiff reasonable attorney fees and costs of defending the claim that
the action was an abusive civil action.
(c) (1) If prefiling restrictions have been imposed pursuant to
subsection (b)(2)(B), an abusive civil action plaintiff may appear before
the court that imposed the prefiling restrictions to make application for
permission to institute a civil action. The court may examine witnesses,
including, but not limited to, the abusive civil action plaintiff and the civil
action defendant, to determine if the proposed civil action is or is not an
abusive civil action and if there are reasonable and legitimate grounds
upon which the complaint is based.
(2) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that any proposed civil
action is an abusive civil action if any of the defendants in the proposed
action were civil action defendants in one or more of the actions that were
the basis for the person being declared an abusive civil action plaintiff.
(3) If the court finds that the proposed civil action is an abusive civil
action, the application shall be denied, and the court shall order a time
when the person may next make application to file a civil action. Such
finding is subject to appeal.
(4) If the court finds that the proposed civil action is not an abusive
civil action, the court may grant the application and issue an order
permitting the filing of the civil action. Such order shall be attached to the
front of the complaint when the abusive civil action plaintiff files the civil
action. The defendant to such action shall be served with a copy of the
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order at the same time that the complaint is served. If a copy of the order is
not attached to the complaint or served on the defendant, the defendant is
under no obligation or duty to respond to the complaint, answer
interrogatories, appear for depositions or any other responsive action. If a
copy of the order is not served along with the action, the defendant may
obtain a certified copy of the order from the court.
(5) If the proposed civil action is filed and the court determines that
the plaintiff is attempting to add parties, amend the complaint or is
otherwise attempting to alter the parties and issues involved in the civil
action in a manner that the court reasonably believes would make the
action an abusive civil action, the court may order a continuance or
dismiss the action. If a person against whom prefiling restrictions have
been imposed pursuant to subsection (b)(2)(B) attempts to file an action in
violation of such restrictions, the court shall dismiss the action.
(d) As used in this section:
(1) "Abusive civil action" means a civil action filed by a plaintiff
against a defendant with whom the plaintiff shares a civil action party
relationship primarily to harass or maliciously injure the defendant and:
(A) Claims, allegations and other legal contentions made in the civil
action are not warranted by existing law or a reasonable argument for the
extension, modification or reversal of existing law or the establishment of
new law;
(B) allegations and other factual contentions made in the civil action
are without the existence of evidentiary support; or
(C) the issue that is the basis of the civil action has previously been
filed in one or more courts by the same plaintiff, and the actions have been
litigated and disposed of unfavorably to the plaintiff.
(2) "Abusive civil action plaintiff" means a person who filed a civil
action that a court has determined to be an abusive civil action.
(3) "Civil action defendant" means a person against whom a civil
action has been filed that a court has determined to be an abusive civil
action.
(4) "Civil action party relationship" means the plaintiff filing a civil
action and the civil action defendant are adults who:
(A) Are current or former spouses;
(B) live together or have lived together;
(C) are dating, have dated or have had a sexual relationship;
(D) are related by blood or adoption;
(E) are related or were formerly related by marriage; or
(F) are children of a person in a relationship described in this
paragraph.
(5) "Harass or maliciously injure" means the civil action was filed
with the intent or was primarily designed to:
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(A) Exhaust, deplete, impair or adversely impact the civil action
defendant's financial resources unless punitive damages are requested and
appropriate or a change in the circumstances of the parties provides a good
faith basis to seek a change to a financial award, support or distribution of
resources;
(B) prevent or interfere with the ability of a civil action defendant to
raise a child or children for whom the civil action defendant has legal
custody in the manner that the civil action defendant deems appropriate
unless the civil action plaintiff has a lawful right to interfere and a good
faith basis for doing so;
(C) force, coerce or attempt to force or coerce the civil action
defendant to agree to or make adverse concessions concerning financial,
custodial, support or other issues if the issues in question have been
previously litigated and decided in favor of the civil action defendant;
(D) impair or attempt to impair the health or well-being of the civil
action defendant or a dependent of the civil action defendant;
(E) prevent, interfere or adversely impact the ability of the civil
action defendant to pursue or maintain a livelihood or lifestyle at the same
standard or a better standard as the civil action defendant enjoyed prior to
the filing of the action primarily for the purpose of harassing or
maliciously injuring the civil action defendant; or
(F) impair, diminish or tarnish the civil action defendant's reputation
in the community or alienate the civil action defendant's friends,
colleagues, attorneys or professional associates by subjecting parties
without knowledge of or not reasonably relevant to the civil action to
unreasonably or unnecessarily complex, lengthy or intrusive
interrogatories or depositions.
Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
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