Most business litigation deals with civil law—that is, one party bringing a lawsuit against another party (a plaintiff bringing a suit against a defendant). A “party” in these cases can be an individual, a business, or an organization.

Civil law has mostly to do with the failure of one party to do something or avoid doing something that causes harm to another person. For instance, if one party (the defendant) fails to pay money owed to another party (the plaintiff), the plaintiff may go to court to get a verdict that the defendant must give them the amount owed.

How Does a Plaintiff File a Lawsuit?

To begin a lawsuit, the plaintiff must file a complaint and a summons in the appropriate court. These are two separate documents.

• The complaintsets up the reasons for the lawsuit by describing what the defendant did wrong (breach of contract, for example).
• The summonsincludes a copy of the complaint and sets specific requirements for the other party to respond. Sometimes the response is in written form, while at other times the summons is to appear in court (in small claims court, for example).

A defendant or their attorney has 21 days after the day they received the summons to serve on the plaintiff or their attorney a reply to the summons. The defendant must also file the response with the court. Failure to respond will result in a judgment by default against them.¹

The complaint, summons, defendant’s response (which might include a countersuit), and other documents setting out the case are referred to as “pleadings.” The lawsuit proceeds from these documents.

The Burden of Proof for the Plaintiff in Civil Lawsuits

The plaintiff has the burden of proof to prove their case is true. That makes sense because the plaintiff is the party that brought the suit to court, so they should have to prove why it should be heard and why their claim has validity. 

In civil cases, the burden of proof standard is usually preponderance of evidence. The preponderance of evidence refers to the weight of the evidence, not the amount. Under the preponderance standard, the plaintiff convinces the judge or jury that there is a greater than 50% chance that the claim is true.

The role of a plaintiff in litigation

When you file a lawsuit against someone, the burden of proof falls on you as the plaintiff. It is your job to prove to the judge and court that the defendant has violated the law. If you decide to bring a lawsuit against another person you must come prepared with evidence that the defendant committed the act you’re accusing them of.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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