Cause of Action

When an aggrieved party needs to file a civil or criminal lawsuit in the court of law, he or she needs to present a cause of action. On the basis of the cause of action, judicial action will be taken to provide relief to the aggrieved party or plaintiff. Under the English Law, this legal document is known as the Statement of Claim and a Complaint in US. What is a cause of action that forms the basis of lawsuits? If you too have a similar question in your mind, then continue reading.

Cause of Action
The legal definition of cause of action is "The basis of a lawsuit that is founded on legal grounds and alleged facts which, if proved, would constitute all the 'elements' required by statute."

What is a Cause of Action?
From the above cause of action definition, you must have understood it is the basis of filing a complaint. It is a technical law term used to explain facts that help give rise to a claim that can be put forth in a court. When someone legal rights are offended by any person or organization, the aggrieved party has a right to sue. With the help of cause of action, a plaintiff needs to prove all the points covered that helps take the offending party to court.

Cause of action comes from either a statute passed by the parliament or from a common law. Judges over time, form a common law based on similar cases bought to them in the court of law. These common laws help in development of cause of action required for different cases that need court action. The type of cause of action will help determine which court will hear one's case, that is, civil or criminal court. Without a valid cause of action, no court will hear a dispute or pass a decision. The claim will be dismissed and the person filing the case may be asked to pay a fine.

Need for Cause of Action
One needs a valid cause of action as there are many people who may suffer from a loss or injury. Everyone will seek legal action and people will be suing anyone according to their whims and fancies. Thus, the legal system has developed conditions for different cases that need to follow a cause of action, for a matter to be taken up for a hearing.

Types of Cause of Action
There are different cause of actions, under which a plaintiff can plead or allege facts in his/her complaint. This helps in pleading an initiation of a lawsuit. The legal theory, that is, the legal wrong suffered by the plaintiff and the remedy, that is, the relief asked by the plaintiff to the court is covered by the course of action. A person may seek judicial relief on multiple causes of action depending on the different circumstances. The different types of specific cause of actions are as follows:

• Statutory causes of action
• Torts like assault, battery, invasion of privacy, negligence, slander, fraud, infliction of emotional distress intentionally
• Contract based action
• Equity suits like unjust enrichment and quantum meruit

The plaintiff needs to prove the points called the 'elements' mentioned in the cause of action. This will help in winning the case by the plaintiff. If there is no sufficient proof to support the element of claim, the court may dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim, after the opposing party moves a motion. The defendant on the other hand, needs to 'Answer' the complaints filed. He can admit, deny or provide insufficient details as a response. He may even give a counterclaims answer called the 'Counterclaim Plaintiff' against the plaintiff along with a course of action. Depending on the proof given by the plaintiff and the answers received from the defendant, the court will pass a judgment.

This was all about what is a cause of action. Statement of claim is the first step to initiate a legal process. If you have any doubts, you may seek professional legal advice from an attorney. Hope the above paragraphs have helped cover most of your doubts related to statement of claim.