Meaning & use
file suit
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Meaning
verbintransitivelegal
To start a legal case against someone by formally submitting a complaint to a court.
Grammar: No separate object: she filed suit; add against someone to name the defendant.
Patterns
- file suit against someone
- file suit for something
- file suit in court
The family filed suit against the company after the accident.
Residents plan to file suit if the city ignores their request.
She filed suit in federal court for unpaid wages.
Word forms
| third person singular | files suit |
|---|---|
| past tense | filed suit |
| past participle | filed suit |
| -ing form | filing suit |
Common combinations
- file suit against someone
- He threatened to file suit against his landlord.
- file suit for damages
- They filed suit for damages after the crash.
- file suit in federal court
- The group filed suit in federal court.
- threaten to file suit
- The customer threatened to file suit.
- decide to file suit
- She decided to file suit over the contract.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sue
- Sue is the everyday verb and takes a direct object, while file suit is more formal and focuses on the paperwork.
- bring a case
- Bring a case is more common in British English and can describe prosecutors as well as private people.
- take legal action
- Take legal action is broader and can include steps other than starting a lawsuit.
- litigate
- Litigate describes carrying on a lawsuit, not just starting one.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: file suit or file a suit?
file suit vs file a suit
File a suit is possible, but file suit without an article is the usual fixed form.
Practice
After the company refused to refund her, she decided to ______ against it.
Choose one answer.
File suit means to start a legal case, and against it follows naturally. File away means to put papers in a drawer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “file suit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.