Where lawsuits arise…

We have all heard the term ‘lawsuit’ in our everyday lives.

Whether it is celebrities or other public figures filing a lawsuit against media journalists or multinational companies filing lawsuits, there are lawsuits in the media every day.

Lawsuits are indeed one of the most common legal procedures to occur not just in the lives of the rich or the famous but also in courts up and down the country.

What is a lawsuit?

The word lawsuit is a wide-ranging term for any type of proceeding that occurs in a court and in which an individual seeks any form of a legal resolution.

A lawsuit is therefore a type of civil action whereby an individual (the plaintiff) brings to court a claim that they have been damaged in some way or another by the person they have accused (the defendant).

The aim of a lawsuit is for the Plaintiff to try and seek a legal or equitable solution to the dispute that has arisen from the plaintiff’s accusation against the defendant.

This solution can take the form of compensation or other punitive action administered by the judge and enforceable by law.

It is important that the lawsuit is heard in the defendant’s country of residence at the time of the alleged offence.

What is Litigation?

Litigation is the term used to describe the process by which a civil, commercial or criminal dispute is decided upon through the procedure of the court of law that results in a legally binding decision. It can thus be said that litigation is the conduct, or process of the lawsuit itself.

Litigation thus describes the adversarial process that takes place in a court of law after one party has lodged an accusation against another.

Litigation always involves a third party being involved in the hearing of arguments and the judgement upon them.

The process of litigation is referred to adversarial because it is usually public and is structurally designed to create a winner and a loser out of every proceeding.