Strike suit
{{Short description|Lawsuit of questionable merit}}
A strike suit is a lawsuit of questionable merit{{cite journal |last1=Badawi |first1=Adam B. |last2=Webber |first2=David H. |authorlink2=David H. Webber |title=Does the Quality of the Plaintiffs' Law Firm Matter in Deal Litigation? |journal=The Journal of Corporation Law |date=2015 |volume=41 |issue=2 |page=104 |url=https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=faculty_scholarship |access-date=19 November 2019}} brought by a single person or group of people with the purpose of gaining a private settlement before going to court that would be less than the cost of the defendant's legal costs.{{cite web
| last = Fox
| first = Merritt B.
| authorlink =
| title = Required Disclosure And Corporate Governance
| work = Law And Contemporary Problems
| publisher =
| date =
| url = http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?62+Law+&+Contemp.+Probs.+113+(Summer+1999)
| format =
| doi =
| access-date = 2008-10-15}}
Such suits frequently appear where the defendant is a considerably larger entity than the plaintiff, such as a corporation or an estate.
Strike suits in securities law
Company shareholders sometimes use strike suits as a means of addressing perceived failures by or discontentment with the company while avoiding becoming embroiled in litigation themselves.
- A minor shareholder sues a company for falling short on projected earnings. The lawsuit makes multiple technical claims of incompetence by the company.
- A minor shareholder sues a company for failure to follow bylaws set by the company. The lawsuit makes multiple technical claims of bylaw infractions by the company.