civil action

American  

[siv-uhl ak-shuhn] / ˈsɪv əl ˈæk ʃən /

noun

Law.

1. a noncriminal lawsuit regarding an alleged violation of someone’s rights.

   When he started his own business and solicited his former employer’s clients, the employer filed a civil action against him.

   Some states require litigants in civil actions to go through alternative dispute resolution first.

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Example Sentences

The pair explained to Witkoff that, after a succession of criminal and civil actions against their father and his companies, they were scrambling to find banks that would accept them as clients.

From The Wall Street Journal

Law firm Digby Brown later said that a total of nearly £1m in civil actions against Network Rail had been settled.

From BBC

He questioned where additional funding would come from to deal with future Troubles-era civil actions, which will now be able to resume as a result of the remedial order.

From BBC

Under the bill, a union representative alleging a violation can bring a civil action to “obtain damages.”

From The Wall Street Journal

However, she noted that "less intrusive" measures such as a police warning or civil action were not pursued prior to prosecution.

From BBC