What Does Litigation Mean?
Litigation is a term that references the process of pursuing legal action. Litigation is broader in scope than a lawsuit and includes the preparatory work that occurs prior to filing a lawsuit. Because litigation is such a broad umbrella, it has many varieties.
Disputes may reach the court due to disagreement between the parties on how the conflict can be solved satisfactorily. The type of litigation is going to depend on the different facts of the case. However, the following are some of the more general categories of litigation together with certain sub-types that are especially often encountered in the courts.
What is Civil Litigation?
When someone wants to secure monetary damages rather than pursue criminal charges against the other party, they participate in civil litigation. Many areas (as with personal injury, mentioned above) fall within the larger umbrella of civil litigation.
Other examples include disputes between workers and their employers, disagreements among landlords and tenants, intellectual property disputes, antitrust issues, problems when products malfunction and even medical malpractice.
The Most Common Types of Litigation
It is impossible to entirely capture the full scope of potential litigation scenarios, because the term itself encapsulates so much of the legal process. However, some types of litigation are significantly more common than others.
Here are the five most common types of litigation, as well as the more specific cases that can fall within each scope.
- Personal Injury
- Commercial/Business Litigation
- Contract Litigation
- Family Law Litigation
- Class Action Litigation