By Stephen A. Thiele ( February 19, 2026, 11:13 AM EST) -- The Rules of Civil Procedure contain powerful rules for the pretrial disposition of actions. One of those rules is rule 21, which, among other things, permits a defendant to strike out an action on the grounds that it discloses no reasonable cause of action or on the grounds that it is frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of process. For malpractice lawyers who defend claims against lawyers, rule 21 is often relied upon to seek the early dismissal of an action in circumstances where the plaintiff and the defendant lawyer were not in a solicitor-and-client relationship....