Encyclopedia > Lawsuit

  Article Content

Lawsuit

A lawsuit is an action or a suit brought before a court, as to recover a right, redress a grievance, obtain damages, an injunction or to obtain a declaratory judgment[?]. It usually involves dispute resolution of private law issues between individuals, business entities or non-profit organizations, though in some jurisdictions it may involve public law[?] issues.

In common law jurisdictions, the lawsuit begins with the issuance of a summons by the clerk of the court chosen by the plaintiff. It may also include a more detailed statement or pleading of the causes of action for which the plaintiff seeks damages or equitable relief.

The early stages of the lawsuit involve discovery or the exchange of documents and other evidence between the parties as well as the conducting of depositions. At this point the parties may also engage in pretrial motion practice in order to determine key issues before trial.

Once the case is ready for trial the parties will pick a jury and then have a trial by jury, unless the case involves equitable relief in which case it will be heard only by the judge.

All the procedures that govern the conduct of a lawsuit in the common law adversarial system of dispute resolution are known as civil procedure.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Urethra

... (25-38 mm) long and opens in the vulva between the clitoris and the vaginal opening. In the human male, the urethra is about 8 inches (200 mm) long and opens at th ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 40.4 ms