Default judgment in the context of "Legal suit"

A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used with respect to a civil action brought by a plaintiff (a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions) who requests a legal remedy or equitable remedy from a court. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint or else risk default judgment. If the plaintiff is successful, judgment is entered in favor of the plaintiff, and the court may impose the legal or equitable remedies available against the defendant (respondent). A variety of court orders may be issued in connection with or as part of the judgment to enforce a right, award damages or restitution, or impose a temporary or permanent injunction to prevent an act or compel an act. A declaratory judgment may be issued to prevent future legal disputes.

A lawsuit may involve resolution of disputes involving issues of private law between individuals, business entities or non-profit organizations. A lawsuit may also involve issues of public law in the sense that the state is treated as if it were a private party in a civil case, either as a plaintiff with a civil cause of action to enforce certain laws or as a defendant in actions contesting the legality of the state's laws or seeking monetary damages for injuries caused by agents of the state.

The rules of civil procedure in England and Wales that govern the conduct of litigation in the civil courts primarily stem from the Civil Procedure Rules adopted in 1999 as part of the Woolf Reforms, but also from the accompanying Practice Directions, other legislation and case law.

The rules that apply differ depending on the type of claim, but ultimately govern the entire cycle of a case before the courts, including the steps that must be undertaken before the claim is issued, service to the other parties, allocation of the case to the different tracks, adding or substituting parties to a claim, default judgment, summary judgment, striking out all or part of a claim, and disclosure of evidence. The rules also deal with how hearings are conducted both pre-trial and at trial, as well as the remedies (both interim and final) that the court can grant, how they are enforced or appealed, and the assessment of costs.