Are parties allowed to file a lawsuit or a motion with no basis in fact or law?

No. By law, a party cannot file a motion in court:

• which is not “well grounded in fact [or] warranted by existing law” (MCR 1.109(E)(5)(b));

• which has “any improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay” (MCR 1.109(E)(5)(c));

• if the “primary purpose in initiating the action or asserting the defense was to harass, embarrass, or injure” the other party ((MCL 600.2591(3)(a)(i));

• if the “party had no reasonable basis to believe that the facts underlying that party’s legal position were in fact true”((MCL 600.2591(3)(a)(ii));

  or

• if the “party’s legal position was devoid of arguable legal merit”((MCL 600.2591(3)(a)(iii)).

The consequences of doing so are severe: the court will order that party to pay the other party all the legal expenses it needed to defend this motion and possibly additional sanctions.