to file a lawsuit
- phrasal verb
- Formal
- She decided to file a lawsuit against the company for unpaid wages.
- file a lawsuit in court
- file a lawsuit alleging
- file a lawsuit on behalf of
She fought back and she filed A lawsuit.
- She fought back and she filed A lawsuit.
- The good news is that one of the girls who had the test decided to speak out and she even filed A lawsuit against the military.
- She later filed a lawsuit in court for sexual harassment against Countrywide and her manager, Leo de Leon.
- And that's the process of filing a lawsuit and how to file motions and basically everything that leads up to going to trial in a lawsuit.
- Midway through that lawsuit, Xerox filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming Apple had infringed copyright Xerox held on its graphical user interface.
- You couldn't have this crazy woman that really barely knew Trump file a lawsuit she couldn't win.
- Our Republican House and Senate leaders being the spineless people they are, they filed A lawsuit with the Supreme Court.
- This is Tesla, and this is Tesla filing a lawsuit, not a cease and desist letter, a lawsuit this same day.
- THC is the ingredient that gives weed the high, and these joints obviously did not contain enough THC because they were still able to file a lawsuit.
Examples
-
So they quietly filed a lawsuit against him.
-
So the city filed a lawsuit against the owners for violation of two city ordinances.
Academic text (2002) -
Only the citizens of France have legal standing to file a lawsuit in order to remove them.
Academic text (2006) -
If that were the case, the victims could in most cases go to court and file a lawsuit.
Academic text (1992) -
I'm here to file a lawsuit.
-
I'm pretty sure I got enough to file a lawsuit against you guys.
-
In 2003, the government of the State of Mexico filed a lawsuit against the federal government and the government of Mexico City.
Academic text (2008) -
American Atheists filed a lawsuit challenging the displays.
Academic text (2011) -
He plans to file a lawsuit against Mr. Barclay for assault... and possibly for a violation of his civil rights.
-
My client has filed a lawsuit against DH Telecom for intellectual property infringement and fraudulent business practices.
Synonyms
To take someone to court to ask for money
To start a court case against someone
To officially tell the police or a court that someone broke the law
Take a disagreement to court so a judge can decide it
To start a court case against someone by suing them
Antonyms
How Formal
- Specialized
- Formal
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derivable from 'file' (to lodge or register paperwork) plus 'lawsuit' (a legal action), so a learner who knows both words will understand this as officially initiating legal proceedings. The indefinite article 'a' is grammatical only and the collocation 'file a lawsuit' follows common legal noun phrase patterns found across many languages and registers, making it transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
The phrase file a lawsuit comes from the simple idea of putting a written complaint into the court's file of papers. Putting a lawsuit into those files made the case official, so today file a lawsuit means 'to officially begin legal action'.