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Civil litigation generally includes all disputes that are formally submitted to a court, about any subject in which one party is claimed to have committed a wrong, but not a crime. In practice and in ordinary conversation, lawyers and others concerned with civil litigation tend to treat many specialized subjects as outside this definition, such as labor law, as well as divorce actions and even small claims cases, even though all of these are technically types of “civil” litigation.

Large numbers of citizens become involved in civil litigation, even if only as members of a “class action,” in which a product or service they have bought along with many other people is alleged to be defective and a mass claim is filed on their behalf. The most common other type of case that fits under “civil litigation” is accident lawsuits.

Civil litigation takes many forms depending on the type of case. But in general, this is the legal process that most people think of when the word “lawsuit” is used. A typical lawsuit begins with filing a complaint in court; the other party gets notice of the complaint and an opportunity to answer; there may be opportunities for both parties to “discover” what each one intends to present as evidence at a trial; and a trial is then scheduled. How formal the trial is, and whether or not it uses a jury, depends on the type and the location of the case. Within the United States, most such cases are heard in the state courts, so there are 50 slightly different systems.