Can a litigant invoke the doctrine of abuse of process to prevent relitigation of matters?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Pan Afric Holdings Ltd. v Athabasca Holdings Ltd., 2017 BCSC 950 (CanLII):

In Erschbamer v. Wallster, 2013 BCCA 76, at para. 12, Tysoe J.A. summarised the branches of res judicata and the related concept of abuse of process as: ... The doctrine has two aspects, issue estoppel and cause of action estoppel. In brief terms, issue estoppel prevents a litigant from raising an issue that has already been decided in a previous proceeding. Cause of action estoppel prevents a litigant from pursuing a matter that was or should have been the subject of a previous proceeding. If the technical requirements of issue estoppel or cause of action estoppel are not met, it may be possible to invoke the doctrine of abuse of process to prevent relitigation of matters.

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