To sue an individual, you write a document called a complaint that lays out what the person did and what you want, file it in a court that has authority over the dispute, pay the filing fee, and then formally deliver copies of the complaint and a court-issued summons to the defendant. From there, the defendant answers or moves to dismiss, both sides exchange evidence in discovery, most cases settle, and if you win at trial you still have to collect the judgment yourself. A simple dispute can wrap up in a few months in small claims court; a contested case in general civil court can take years.
Confirm You Actually Have a Claim
Not every wrong the law recognizes. Most civil claims between individuals require four elements: the defendant owed you a legal duty (from a contract, a general duty of care, or a specific statute), the defendant breached that duty, the breach directly caused your harm, and you suffered real, measurable losses like medical bills, lost income, or damaged property. A car accident is the textbook example. Every driver has a duty to follow traffic laws, running a red light breaks that duty, the collision is the direct cause, and your hospital bills and repair costs are the damages.
Just as important is the statute of limitations, the hard deadline for filing. Miss it and the court will refuse to hear the case no matter how strong your evidence is. Deadlines vary by claim type and jurisdiction, and the clock typically starts on the date the harm occurred.
Send a Demand Letter Before You File
Write to the person first. A demand letter lays out what happened, what you believe you are owed, and a deadline to pay or resolve the matter, typically 14 to 30 days. Some state statutes actually require a demand letter before you can bring particular claims. Even when it is not required, judges and juries look more favorably on a plaintiff who tried to resolve things before suing, and the letter itself becomes evidence of that good-faith effort.
Keep it factual. State the amount owed, describe the key events briefly, reference any contract or agreement, and set a clear response deadline. Skip the threats and the emotional language. If you get a reasonable counteroffer back, you may avoid the cost and uncertainty of a lawsuit entirely.
Choose the Right Court
Filing in the wrong court wastes your filing fee and delays your case. You need to get two things right: jurisdiction and venue.
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the court’s legal authority to hear your type of case and bind the parties. Most lawsuits between individuals belong in state court, generally where the defendant lives or where the events happened.
Federal court is available only in narrow circumstances. If you and the defendant are citizens of different states and your claim exceeds $75,000, you can file in federal court under diversity jurisdiction.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1332 – Diversity of Citizenship; Amount in Controversy Federal court is also available when the claim itself arises under federal law. Neither situation applies to most personal disputes.
If the defendant lives in a different state, a long-arm statute may still let your local court exercise authority, as long as the defendant has enough of a connection to the state, such as conducting business there or causing an injury there.
Venue and Court Level
Venue is the specific geographic location, usually a county. Rules typically direct you to the county where the defendant lives or where the dispute arose. Filing in the wrong county gives the defendant grounds to ask the court to transfer or dismiss.
Court level depends on how much money is at stake. Small claims courts handle lower-dollar disputes under simplified rules and are designed for self-representation; some states even prohibit attorneys from appearing there. Small claims dollar limits range from a few thousand dollars to $25,000, depending on the state. Larger disputes go to general civil court, sometimes called superior, district, or circuit court, where formal rules of evidence and procedure apply and both filing fees and overall costs run higher.
You have the right to represent yourself in any civil case, a practice called proceeding “pro se,” and courts will not appoint a lawyer for you the way they would in a criminal case. Small claims is built for it. In general civil court, you are held to the same procedural and evidentiary standards as a licensed attorney, and if the other side has counsel and you do not, the imbalance shows up quickly. Many personal injury and contract attorneys work on contingency, taking a percentage of the recovery instead of hourly fees, which is worth exploring before you decide.
Draft and File the Complaint
The complaint is the document that officially starts your lawsuit. It tells the court who you are, who you are suing, what happened, and what you want. Under federal rules, a complaint needs three things: a statement of why the court has jurisdiction, a plain description of the facts showing you are entitled to relief, and a demand for the specific remedy you want.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 8 – General Rules of Pleading State complaints work the same way with local formatting differences.
Get the defendant’s name exactly right. Use the full legal name and current address. An incorrect name can make it impossible to enforce a judgment later. Public records and property records can help you verify the name before you file.
Write the facts in chronological order with dates, locations, and the sequence of events. Reference any contract or document central to the dispute. If you want money, itemize the losses: medical expenses, repair costs, lost wages, other out-of-pocket harm. If you want the court to order a specific action, like the return of property or enforcement of a contract, describe exactly what you need.
Gather your supporting evidence before filing, even though most of it will not go in with the complaint itself:
- Signed agreements, invoices, receipts, bank statements, and canceled checks.
- Emails, text messages, and letters between you and the defendant about the dispute.
- Photos and video of property damage, injuries, or the scene.
- Names and contact details of any witnesses.
Take the completed complaint, any required cover sheets, and copies for each defendant to the court clerk. Many courts now allow or require electronic filing. The clerk will assign a case number and issue a summons for each defendant, formally directing them to respond within a set number of days.
You owe a filing fee at submission. State court fees for general civil cases typically run from about $200 to over $400 depending on the court and the amount in dispute. Federal court is currently $405. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for a waiver. In federal court this is called proceeding in forma pauperis and requires an affidavit detailing your income and assets.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1915 – Proceedings In Forma Pauperis State courts have their own waiver programs with their own forms.
Serve the Defendant
Filing does not notify the defendant. You must separately deliver copies of the summons and complaint through a process called service of process, and getting this wrong can end your case.
You cannot hand the documents to the defendant yourself. Service must be performed by someone who is not a party to the lawsuit and is at least 18 years old.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4 – Summons Most people hire a private process server, typically $20 to $100 per job, or ask the sheriff’s office to handle it. Personal service, where the process server hands the papers directly to the defendant, is the most reliable method. If the defendant cannot be found, most jurisdictions allow substituted service: leaving the papers with a responsible adult at the defendant’s home or workplace and mailing a second copy. Many states also allow service by certified mail with return receipt requested.5U.S. Marshals Service. Methods of Service on Individuals by State
You have a limited window. Federal court gives you 90 days from filing to complete service; miss that without good cause and the court can dismiss.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4 – Summons State deadlines vary, but courts everywhere refuse to let filed complaints sit unserved indefinitely.
After service, the server fills out a proof of service or affidavit of service recording when, where, and how the defendant received the papers. File it with the court clerk promptly. Without that proof, the court has no evidence the defendant was ever notified, and the case cannot move forward.
What the Defendant Can Do Next
Once served, the defendant has 21 days to respond in federal court.6Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12 – Defenses and Objections State deadlines vary but typically fall between 20 and 30 days. There are three main paths.
The most common response is an answer, admitting or denying each allegation and raising any defenses. The defendant may also file a counterclaim, essentially suing you back in the same case. If that happens, you become both plaintiff and defendant, and you have to respond to the counterclaim within 21 days in federal court.6Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12 – Defenses and Objections
Instead of answering, the defendant can file a motion to dismiss, arguing the case has a fatal procedural or legal flaw. Common grounds include filing in the wrong court, defective service, and failing to state a claim the law recognizes. If the court grants the motion, the case may end there, though some dismissals give you a chance to fix the problem and refile.
If the defendant ignores the lawsuit and misses the deadline, you can ask for a default judgment. This is a two-step process. First, ask the clerk to enter the defendant’s default by showing proper service and no response. Second, request the actual judgment. If your claim is for a specific dollar amount backed by documentation, the clerk may enter judgment directly; for other claims, a judge reviews the evidence, sometimes at a hearing on damages.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 55 – Default and Default Judgment Do not assume this is automatic. Courts can set aside a default for good cause and regularly do when a defendant shows up late with a reasonable excuse. Still, plenty of defendants never respond, and default judgments are one of the more common ways individual lawsuits actually end.
Discovery
If the case moves forward, both sides enter discovery, the formal evidence-gathering stage. This is where you learn what the other side knows, what documents they have, and how strong their story is. Discovery is also the most time-consuming part of most lawsuits, often running from three months to a full year or longer.
The main tools are written questions the other side must answer under oath (interrogatories), formal demands for documents and records (requests for production), in-person interviews conducted under oath and recorded by a court reporter (depositions), and statements you ask the other side to admit or deny (requests for admissions). The party requesting a deposition pays for the court reporter.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A Guide to the Discovery Process for Unrepresented Complainants Anything the other side admits is treated as established fact at trial, which narrows what the court has to decide.
In federal court, both sides also have to exchange initial disclosures at the start of discovery without waiting for a request: names and contact information of people with relevant knowledge, copies or descriptions of supporting documents, and a computation of damages. The point is to prevent ambush tactics and keep both sides working from the same set of facts.
Settlement and Mediation
Most civil lawsuits settle before trial. Federal law requires every district court to offer at least one form of alternative dispute resolution, and many courts will order the parties to try mediation before setting a trial date.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 652 – Jurisdiction State courts run similar programs.
In mediation, a neutral third party helps both sides negotiate. The mediator does not decide the case. If you reach an agreement, it becomes a binding contract; if not, you proceed to trial with nothing lost. Mediation typically resolves disputes faster and far more cheaply than a full trial.
Arbitration is different. A private decision-maker hears both sides and issues a ruling that is usually binding with very limited appeal rights. Some contracts include mandatory arbitration clauses that require this process and prevent a traditional lawsuit at all, so check any agreements between you and the defendant before you file.
Collecting a Judgment
Winning and getting paid are different things. The court will not collect for you. A judgment is a piece of paper saying the defendant owes you a specific amount, and enforcement is on you.
If the defendant does not pay voluntarily, several tools are available. Wage garnishment takes a portion of the defendant’s paycheck directly from their employer. Federal law caps garnishment for ordinary debts at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment Some states impose stricter limits. A judgment lien attaches to the defendant’s real estate, and in some states personal property; the defendant cannot sell or refinance without satisfying the lien first. A bank levy is a court order directing the defendant’s bank to turn over funds from their account up to the judgment amount.
To use any of these, you typically have to go back to court and request a writ of execution or a similar order. You can also bring the defendant back for a post-judgment examination, where they disclose income, assets, bank accounts, and employment under oath. That step is often the most valuable one, because you cannot garnish wages or levy accounts you do not know about. Judgments are generally valid for many years and can be renewed, so even if the defendant has no assets today, you can enforce later when that changes.