§ 11.001.Definitions

Four live definitions, and the last one sets the boundary of the entire chapter.

"Plaintiff" means an individual who commences or maintains a litigation pro se.

Three limits are packed into that sentence. The person must be an individual, so a company cannot be declared a vexatious litigant. They must be acting pro se, so a represented party is outside the chapter however many suits they file. And they must be a plaintiff, so a defendant who files repetitive motions is not reached.

The pro se limit reflects where the chapter puts responsibility. A represented litigant’s filings are signed by a lawyer, and the sanctions chapters and the disciplinary rules apply to that lawyer.

"Litigation" means a civil action commenced, maintained, or pending in any state or federal court.

"Any state or federal court" reaches beyond Texas, which matters for the five-litigation count — suits filed in other states and in federal court are included.

"Defendant" means a person or governmental entity against whom a plaintiff commences or maintains or seeks to commence or maintain a litigation. The words "seeks to commence" matter, because a person named in a proposed suit that a prefiling order has stopped is still a defendant for the chapter’s purposes.

"Moving defendant" is the defendant who moves for a determination and requests security.

The definition of "local administrative judge" was repealed in 2013, when the permission provisions were rewritten to identify the right judge in the text itself.