This Rule provides a procedure for controlling abuses of the court’s process and allows for a wide range of remedies, including dismissal or judgment, a stay, indemnification, striking or amending a pleading, expunging or sealing an affidavit, or an injunction. Vexatious litigants may be restrained from commencing further proceedings without permission of the court (R.88.02). Rule 88.05 allows the court to determine whether a claim amounts to an abuse of process before the rest of the claim is determined.

Rule 88 makes clear that unsustainable pleadings should be challenged under Rule 13 – Summary Judgment, rather than as an abuse of process.