SUIT, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed.

2019)

Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019), suit

SUIT

Bryan A. Garner, Editor in Chief

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suit (14c) Any proceeding by a party or parties against another in a court of law; case (1). — Also termed lawsuit; suit at law.
See action (4).
“All these nouns [suit, lawsuit, action, case, and cause] denote proceedings instituted for the purpose of enforcing a right
or otherwise seeking justice. Although they are all in frequent use as synonyms for a court proceeding, their etymological
development has lent them shades of meaning that they still faintly bear. Suit stresses the sense of campaign — originally a
lover's persistent efforts to win love as a suitor but now a complainant's attempt to redress a wrong, enforce a right, or compel
application of a rule. Suit is historically most closely associated with proceedings in equity <suit in equity>. In the legal sense,
suit refers to an ongoing dispute at any stage, from the initial filing to the ultimate resolution. Lawsuit more clearly implies
courtroom proceedings before a judge, as opposed to a dispute before some other type of tribunal. Action is close to suit and
lawsuit <action on the case>, but historically action was closely tied to legal as opposed to equitable proceedings. Because
action denotes a mode of proceeding in court not just to enforce a private right or to redress or prevent a private wrong, but
also to punish a public offense, it is possible to speak of criminal actions. When the jurisdictional distinction between law and
equity existed, an action ended at judgment, but a suit in equity ended after judgment and execution. Today, since virtually
all jurisdictions have merged the administration of law and equity, the terms action and suit are interchangeable. … Case can
apply either to the entire proceedings <the case has been pending for 19 months> or to the merits of the action from either side's
point of view <the plaintiff has a good case> <the defendant has a good case>. Cause, a legalism, emphasizes the merits of
the action from the plaintiff's point of view, especially with the connotation of seeking justice <the ex-employee's cause for
wrongful discharge>… Although cause and action are nearly synonymous, the legal idioms in which the phrases are used differ.
So an action or suit is said to be ‘commenced,’ but a cause is not. Similarly, a cause but not an action is said to be ‘tried.’ The
distinction between the words is subtle: broadly, action connotes legal procedure and cause denotes the merits of the dispute
(again, from the plaintiff's vantage). The first edition of Black's Law Dictionary noted the differentiation between case and
cause, although if it does exist at all it is little heeded: ‘case is of a more limited signification, importing a collection of facts,
with the conclusion of law thereon,’ whereas ‘cause imports a judicial proceeding entire, and is nearly synonymous with lis in
Latin, or suit in English.’” Bryan A. Garner, Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage 862–63 (3d ed. 2011) (citations omitted).

- ancillary suit (an-sə-ler-ee) (1845) An action, either at law or in equity, that grows out of and is auxiliary to another suit
and is filed to aid the primary suit, to enforce a prior judgment, or to impeach a prior decree. — Also termed ancillary bill;
ancillary proceeding; ancillary process.
- blackmail suit. (1892) A suit filed by a party having no genuine claim but hoping to extract a favorable settlement from a
defendant who would rather avoid the expense and inconvenience of litigation.
- citizen suit. See citizen suit.
- class suit. See class action.
- derivative suit. See derivative action (1).
- frivolous suit. (1837) A lawsuit having no legal basis, often filed to harass or extort money from the defendant.
- interest suit. (1862) Rare. Wills & estates. A lawsuit to determine which persons have a valid interest in an estate. See interest
(2).
- official-capacity suit. (1978) A lawsuit that is nominally against one or more individual state employees but that has as the
real party in interest the state or a local government. Cf. personal-capacity suit.
- personal-capacity suit. (1985) An action to impose personal, individual liability on a government officer. Cf. official-capacity
suit.
- petitory suit. See petitory action under action (4).

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SUIT, Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

- plenary suit (plee-nə-ree or plen-ə-ree) (1817) An action that proceeds on formal pleadings under rules of procedure. Cf.
summary proceeding under proceeding.
- sham suit. See sham action under action (4).
- strike suit. (1902) A suit (esp. a derivative action), often based on no valid claim, brought either for nuisance value or as
leverage to obtain a favorable or inflated settlement.
- suit at law. (16c) A suit conducted according to the common law or equity, as distinguished from statutory provisions. • Under
the current rules of practice in federal and most state courts, the term civil action embraces an action both at law and in equity.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 2. See action at law under action (4).
- suit in equity. (17c) A civil suit stating an equitable claim and asking for an exclusively equitable remedy. — Also termed
action in equity.
- suit of a civil nature. (18c) A civil action. See civil action under action (4).
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