§ 11.051.Motion for Order Determining Plaintiff a Vexatious Litigant and Requesting Security

The motion that opens Subchapter B, and its deadline is short.

In a litigation in this state, the defendant may, on or before the 90th day after the date the defendant files the original answer or makes a special appearance, move for an order determining that the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant and requiring the plaintiff to furnish security.

The clock runs from the defendant’s own first filing, not from service or from the plaintiff’s petition — so the defendant controls when it starts, and cannot lose the right by being served early.

Ninety days is a real constraint. Establishing the criteria means researching the plaintiff’s litigation history across state and federal courts over seven years, which takes time a defendant must begin spending at once.

A special appearance starts the clock as well as an answer. A defendant contesting personal jurisdiction does not have to choose between that challenge and this motion, but neither does the challenge postpone the deadline.

The two requests travel together. The motion asks for a determination and for security; the security order follows the determination, and the chapter provides no route to security without the finding.

The motion has an immediate effect regardless of its merit. Filing it stays the litigation, which is why the deadline exists — a motion available at any time would be a stay available at any time.

Note that a prefiling order does not run on this timetable. That relief is available on the court’s own motion or any party’s, and the 90-day limit belongs to the security motion alone.