Plaintiff
A
plaintiff, also known as a
claimant or
complainant, is the party who initiates a
lawsuit (also known as an
action) before a
court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal
remedy, and if successful, the court will issue
judgment in favour of the plaintiff and make the appropriate
court order (eg. an order for
damages).
In some
jurisdictions the commencement of a lawsuit is done by filing a
summons, claim form and/or a
complaint — these documents are known as
pleadings — that set forth the alleged wrongs committed by the defendant or defendants with a demand for relief. In other jurisdictions the action is commenced by service of
legal process by delivery of these documents on the defendant by a process server; they are only filed with the court subsequently with an
affidavit from the process server that they had been given to the defendant(s) according to the rules of
civil procedure.
Not all lawsuits are
plenary actions, involving a full trial on the merits of the case. There are also simplified procedures, often called proceedings, in which the parties are termed
petitioner instead of plaintiff, and
respondent instead of defendant. There are also cases that do not technically involve two sides, such as petitions for specific statutory relief that require judicial approval; in those cases there are no respondents, just a petitioner.
The party to whom the complaint is against is the
defendant; or in the case of a petition, a respondent. Case names are usually given with the plaintiff first, as in
Plaintiff v. Respondent.
In term
writ of summons in favour of
claim form.
In Scotland a plaintiff is referred to as a
pursuer, and a defendant as a defender.
In
Hong Kong and the
United States, a plaintiff is still referred to as a plaintiff. The British usage of "claimant" and "claim form" in the context of formal legal proceedings is quite confusing for Americans, who traditionally limit the application of those terms to
insurance and
administrative law. After exhausting remedies available through an
insurer or
government agency, an American who turns to the courts would file a complaint and become a plaintiff.
