Editing Plaintiff (section)

{{Short description|Party which initiates a court case}}
{{Redirect|Pursuer|the comic book character by that name|Pursuer (comics)|the Waikymas on the Lithuanian coat of arms|Coat of arms of Lithuania}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2007}}
A '''plaintiff''' ('''[[pi (letter)|Π]]''' in [[List of legal abbreviations|legal shorthand]]) is the party who initiates a [[lawsuit]] (also known as an ''action'') before a [[court]]. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a [[legal remedy]]. If this search is successful, the court will issue [[Judgment (law)|judgment]] in favor of the plaintiff and make the appropriate [[court order]] (e.g., an order for [[damages]]). Plaintiff is the term used in civil cases in most English-speaking jurisdictions, the notable exceptions being England and Wales, where a plaintiff has, since the introduction of the [[Civil Procedure Rules]] in 1999, been known as a "'''claimant'''" and Scotland, where the party has always been known as the "'''pursuer'''". In criminal cases, the [[prosecutor]] brings the case against the defendant, but the key complaining party is often called the "'''complainant'''".

In some [[jurisdiction]]s, a lawsuit is commenced by filing a [[summons]], claim form or a [[complaint]]. These documents are known as [[pleading]]s, that set forth the alleged wrongs committed by the [[defendant]] or defendants with a demand for relief. In other jurisdictions, the action is commenced by service of [[legal process]] by delivery of these documents on the defendant by a process server; they are only filed with the court subsequently with an [[affidavit]] from the process server that they had been given to the defendant according to the rules of [[civil procedure]].