Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• Lloyd's Register Canada Ltd. applied to declare former employee Munchang Choi a vexatious litigant under section 40 of the Federal Courts Act following his termination as a senior marine surveyor.

• Multiple proceedings were initiated by Mr. Choi across Canadian, American, and British tribunals, nearly all stemming from the same discipline and termination dispute.

• Every proceeding decided on its merits was dismissed, including those before WorkSafeBC and the Federal Court, while other complaints were dismissed for being out of time.

• Hallmarks of vexatiousness were identified, including re-litigation of the same issues, filing frivolous claims, making unfounded complaints against lawyers and judges, and non-compliance with court rules.

• Mr. Choi filed a motion record that appeared to contain hallucinated case law citations generated by artificial intelligence, for which he was sanctioned with $500 in costs during the present proceeding.

• The Court declined solicitor-client costs but awarded $3,000 in costs to Lloyd's Register, noting Mr. Choi's disclosed mental health diagnosis as a factor weighing against a substantial monetary award.

The employment relationship and workplace incidents

Munchang Choi was employed by entities related to Lloyd's Register Canada Ltd. in South Korea and the United Kingdom beginning in 2006. From 2021 to 2023, he worked for Lloyd's Register in Vancouver, British Columbia, as a senior marine surveyor. In April 2022, Mr. Choi had unsatisfactory interactions with employees of a third party at the port of Vancouver, which he recorded and complained about directly to the third party. His manager warned him that these actions breached company policies. In January 2023, Mr. Choi allegedly advised a Lloyd's Register client to cease doing business with a different third party. When this was reported to his manager and his manager confronted him, Mr. Choi filed a complaint against his supervisor for bullying and harassment. A few days later, on his doctor's advice, he took medical leave. In March 2023, Lloyd's Register terminated his employment.

The cascade of legal proceedings

Following his termination, Mr. Choi initiated a sweeping series of legal proceedings across multiple forums. Before his termination in March 2023, he had already made a prohibited action complaint with British Columbia's Worker Compensation Board, also known as WorkSafeBC. In May 2023, he initiated a civil claim against Lloyd's Register and a number of individuals in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. He subsequently filed additional complaints with WorkSafeBC, British Columbia's Director of Employment Standards, the Canadian Industrial Relations Board, Employment and Skills Development Canada, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal. He also pursued complaints internationally before the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the United Kingdom's Employment Tribunal. The vast majority of these proceedings arose from the same core dispute — his discipline and termination.

Outcomes of prior proceedings

WorkSafeBC dismissed Mr. Choi's complaints on their merits through decisions issued on September 19, 2024 and January 2, 2025, and also dismissed his application for compensation for mental disorder due to workplace bullying and harassment by a decision made on August 4, 2023. British Columbia's Worker's Compensation Appeal Tribunal dismissed his appeal from the latter decision on January 25, 2024, and his request for reconsideration of the latter decision on August 13, 2025. His complaint to the CIRB was dismissed for being late. ESDC found that Lloyd's Register had to pay $6,838 to Mr. Choi in vacation pay but rejected his complaints related to medical leave. His employment standards appeal was dismissed for being out of time, and his reconsideration request was likewise dismissed. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dismissed his complaint as being out of time, and the U.K. Employment Tribunal declined to hear the case after a lengthy discussion of its extraterritorial jurisdiction. In the Federal Court, his applications for judicial review concerning a hiring process by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were dismissed, and his application related to a complaint he made against the RCMP was struck.

The vexatious litigant application and legal framework

Lloyd's Register brought a standalone application under section 40 of the Federal Courts Act, with the consent of the Attorney General, asking the Court to declare Mr. Choi a vexatious litigant. Section 40 does not foreclose access to justice entirely but makes it conditional upon obtaining leave of the Court, which then plays a gatekeeping role. The Federal Court of Appeal in Canada v Olumide had articulated the purpose of this provision: federal courts have finite resources that cannot be squandered, and unrestricted access by those whose access should be restricted affects the access of others who need and deserve it. Courts have identified common hallmarks of vexatiousness, including instituting frivolous proceedings, re-litigating decided issues, making scandalous and unsupported allegations, ignoring court orders and court rules, and refusing to pay outstanding costs awards.

Findings of vexatiousness

Justice Grammond found that Mr. Choi's conduct exhibited several hallmarks of vexatious behaviour. First, Mr. Choi repeatedly relitigated the same core issue — his discipline and termination — across numerous forums, and the way in which he pursued these claims ran against two fundamental principles of civil procedure, finality and proportionality. Second, all proceedings that were decided on their merits were dismissed, and some claims, such as suing University Canada West over its alleged mishandling of his complaint that certain instructors had engaged in plagiarism of other persons' work (not Mr. Choi's), were characterized by the Court as trifling. Third, Mr. Choi made unfounded complaints against Lloyd's Register's in-house counsel and external lawyers, all of which were dismissed. Fourth, Mr. Choi demonstrated persistent non-compliance with court rules, requiring intensive case management and repeatedly filing pleadings and documents that did not comply with the Federal Courts Rules. Notably, he filed a motion record that appeared to contain hallucinated case law citations generated by artificial intelligence, for which Justice Simon Fothergill directed that the motion record be removed from the Court record and condemned Mr. Choi to pay costs in the amount of $500. The CIRB had already admonished Mr. Choi for the same issue in a prior decision.

The ruling and outcome

The Federal Court granted Lloyd's Register's application and declared Mr. Choi a vexatious litigant. The order prohibits Mr. Choi from commencing any new proceedings or continuing existing proceedings in the Federal Court — including the applications in files T-2532-24, T-2303-25, T-2304-25, and T-4949-25 — unless he first obtains leave under subsection 40(3) of the Federal Courts Act. The order does not extend to his application for judicial review of the CIRB decision in file A-234-25, as that file was transferred to the Federal Court of Appeal and section 40 does not empower the Federal Court to regulate the conduct of litigants in the Federal Court of Appeal. The Registry was directed to reject any documents filed by or on behalf of Mr. Choi without such leave. Regarding costs, the Court declined Lloyd's Register's request for solicitor-client costs, noting that Mr. Choi had disclosed a diagnosis of "major depressive disorder, recurrent, moderate to severe, with mood-incongruent psychotic features and anxious distress," and that if his vexatiousness is linked to a mental health condition, it is unlikely that a substantial monetary award would change his behaviour. Instead, the Court awarded costs in the amount of $3,000 to Lloyd's Register, the successful party in the application.