Remedial Law
Updated 21st May 2025
Plaintiff
P
  • Generally, the party who initiates a lawsuit or files a complaint or petition in court.
  • The party who makes a legal demand of a right from another person and seeks relief from the defendant.
  • The party whose complaint alleges a cause of action arising from the defendant's act or omission violating the plaintiff's legal right.
  • The party over whom the court acquires jurisdiction by their act of filing the complaint or petition.
  • Typically required to be a natural or juridical person with legal personality. An entity without juridical personality cannot generally be a plaintiff.
  • Generally required to be the real party-in-interest, meaning one who stands to be benefited or injured by the judgment or is entitled to the suit's avails. The owner of the right violated is the real party in interest as plaintiff.
  • Allowed to sue in a representative capacity for a beneficiary who is the real party in interest.
  • May include a minority shareholder in a derivative suit (though the corporation is the real party in interest), a representative in a class suit for numerous individuals with a common interest, or the private offended party/complainant in a criminal case pursuing the civil aspect. Authorized entities or the government may also act as plaintiffs in specific actions like environmental cases.
  • Termed the "claiming party" and can encompass a defendant who files a counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party complaint.
  • In small claims cases, defined as the party who initiated the action and specifically includes a defendant who has filed a counterclaim.