The other party in a civil lawsuit is the defendant or respondent (the one who responds to the suit). The defendant is the person being sued or the person against whom the complaint is filed. Learn more about how a plaintiff files a lawsuit and their role in a civil court case.
What Is a Plaintiff in a Lawsuit?
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 complaint sets up the reasons for the lawsuit by describing what the defendant did wrong (breach of contract, for example).The summons includes 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. 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.
Tax Cases
Most federal income tax disputes are between the IRS and the individual (or business) taxpayer. If a tax case goes to a U.S. Tax Court, the individual taxpayer is the plaintiff and the IRS is the defendant. That’s because the taxpayer is disputing the IRS ruling. A Tax Court case begins with the filing of a petition by the taxpayer. Disputes involving $50,000 or less may be conducted under the court’s simplified small tax case procedure. The decision in a small tax case may not be appealed by either the plaintiff or the IRS.
