Meaning & use
commercial litigation
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablelegalbusiness
The process of taking business disagreements to court, such as fights over contracts, payments, or partnerships.
Grammar: Uncountable: say 'commercial litigation is expensive', not 'a commercial litigation'.
Patterns
- involved in commercial litigation
- commercial litigation against someone
- a commercial litigation lawyer
The two suppliers ended their dispute through commercial litigation rather than a private settlement.
She works for a firm that handles commercial litigation for small technology companies.
Commercial litigation can take years and cost far more than the original contract was worth.
Common combinations
- commercial litigation lawyer
- They hired a commercial litigation lawyer to handle the contract dispute.
- commercial litigation department
- The bank's commercial litigation department grew after the financial crisis.
- involved in commercial litigation
- The company is currently involved in commercial litigation with a former partner.
- threaten commercial litigation
- When the payment never arrived, they threatened commercial litigation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- business lawsuit
- This is the everyday phrase for the same idea; 'commercial litigation' sounds more formal and refers to the whole legal process.
- corporate dispute
- A broader term for any conflict between companies, whether or not it goes to court.
Word family
Commonly confused: commercial litigation or criminal litigation?
commercial litigation vs criminal litigation
Criminal litigation involves charges brought by the state against a person; commercial litigation is between businesses over money or contracts.
Practice
Two companies disagree about a broken supply contract and decide to settle it in court. What is this called?
Choose one answer.
'Commercial litigation' fits because the dispute is between businesses. 'Criminal litigation' is wrong because no crime is involved, and the other options relate to different areas of law.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “commercial litigation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.