Any lawyers/paralegals/knowledgable people in the Lounge today?

I have a question . . .

In 2011, I had a complaint filed against me in small claims court. The plaintiff did not show, and his case was dismissed with prejudice. A few months later, he filed a motion to request a new hearing, which was denied. Approximately a month after that, he filed a motion a motion to reinstate. That was also denied.

To my surprise, he refiled, this time asking for a higher dollar amount. He's asking for damages due to "deformation of character." (Yeah, I know, but that's what the complaint says).

The plaintiff is in another state, and I'm sure he knows it creates a hardship for me to take time off of work to travel (I don't have any paid leave).

A Google search came up with this definition from uslegal.com: "A dismissal with prejudice is dismissal of a case on merits after adjudication.The plaintiff is barred from bringing an action on the same claim. Dismissal with prejudice is a final judgment and the case becomes res judicata on the claims that were or could have been brought in it."

Based on this definition, I filed a motion to dismiss. Now I realize that laws differ from state to state, but is there some way a defendant can protect herself from frivolous lawsuits? Obviously, this clown has too much time and money on this hands to file claims and pay private process servers. I know that lawyers can be disciplined for pulling stunts like this, but he's filing pro se.