A judge has said he intends to declare Salim Mehajer a "vexatious litigant" after the former Auburn deputy mayor tried to sue old business associates for up to $52 million.
If ratified at a hearing on Thursday, that would ban Mr Mehajer from taking civil action in any court in NSW, after the judge agreed he had started a series of cases without reasonable grounds.
Justice Geoff Lindsay last week proposed to make orders prohibiting Mr Mehajer from "instituting any proceedings, other than procedural applications in criminal proceedings ... either in his own name or in the name any other person or company".
Mr Mehajer filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against SC Lowy Primary Investments and 16 other defendants in relation a residential project in Lidcombe which left him bankrupt.
The ex-developer blamed the defendants for conduct which he alleged rendered him unable to pay back creditors, who later petitioned for him to be declared bankrupt.
He made various claims for damages, including that the defendants' actions caused him "nervous shock".
The original application asked for damages of up to $52 million but Mehajer later agreed his statement of claim could not be maintained and it was struck out.
The case stems from the Skypoint Towers development on John Street, Lidcombe.
Mr Mehajer, 35, was previously the sole shareholder of the project's former parent companies.
He is no longer associated with Skypoint.
Justice Lindsay wrote in a published judgement he would make vexatious litigant orders against Mr Mehajer, under the Vexatious Proceedings Act, at the request of the defendants.
Their lawyers pointed to 10 other failed civil cases brought by Mr Mehajer in various courts — some of which related to Skypoint — in support of their motion.
SC Lowry was the lender through which construction of Skypoint was funded, while another defendants also lent or advanced funds for the project.
"In the current proceedings, as in earlier proceedings, Mr Mehajer has advanced serious allegations about the conduct of the defendants in the commercial dealings here outlined," Justice Lindsay wrote in his judgement.
"Those allegations have been ventilated at length in earlier proceedings and have been either abandoned by Mr Mehajer or made the subject of findings adverse to him."
Justice Lindsay also wrote he found Mr Mehajer was ignoring or "trying to circumvent" a previous Federal Court judgement in relation to his bankruptcy.
"The current proceedings amount to an effort to re-litigate the value of any claim Mr Mehajer has against the defendants in a manner that amounts to an abuse of process," he wrote.
The judge found Mr Mehajer had "annoyed" and "harassed" opponents in other legal battles, including during a failed defamation lawsuit against the Seven Network in 2020.
Justice Lindsay has also proposed to stay the current case and order Mr Mehajer pay the court costs of the defendants.
He would only be able to start new civil cases if a Supreme Court judge cleared the proceedings before they were filed.
A hearing is set down for Thursday for the parties to make submissions as to the final form of the orders.
Mr Mehajer, who had called on high-powered lawyers in the past, was representing himself in the case.
It is uncommon for vexatious litigant orders to be made, with data obtained by the ABC in 2019 showing only 173 such cases in the country.
The High Court has only made those orders four times in its history.
