What is Civil Litigation?

Litigation is the process of going to court to settle a dispute. Civil law deals with relationships between individuals. In law, an individual can be a person, a company or an organization. Civil law cases involve one individual filing a claim against another individual, based on either federal or provincial laws. Examples include contract disputes, landlord-tenant disputes, employment disputes, and divorce.

If someone says that they are going to “sue” someone, that means they are planning civil litigation. In addition to “suing someone”, a civil litigation case can be called:

• An action
• A matter
• A lawsuit
• A proceeding
• A case

Proof in civil litigation is on a “Balance of probabilities”. This means that a judge must be satisfied something probably happened. This is a lower standard than in criminal litigation. There, facts must be proven “Beyond a reasonable doubt”.

Much civil litigation is concerned with contracts or torts. If you cause someone damage or breach a contract, you can be sued and forced to pay to compensate for the harm done, or made to complete the contract. For example, if a store owner lets their stairs become slippery and someone slips and hurts themselves, that may be the tort of negligence and the store owner may have to pay for the injury.