To sue a company, you confirm nothing blocks you from court, identify the correct corporate defendant, file a written complaint in a court that has authority over both the dispute and the company, serve the papers under the rules, and then work through the response, discovery, and (usually) settlement. Each step has its own rules, and courts enforce them strictly enough that a technical mistake can end your case before a judge looks at the facts. Here is how the process actually works, in the order you’ll encounter it.
Check for an Arbitration Clause First
Before you spend a dollar preparing a lawsuit, pull out any contract, terms of service, or agreement you have with the company and read the dispute-resolution section. Arbitration clauses are buried in the fine print of a huge share of consumer and business contracts, and a written agreement to arbitrate is generally enforceable under federal law.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 9 USC 2 – Validity, Irrevocability, and Enforcement of Agreements to Arbitrate If you signed one, a court will typically dismiss your lawsuit and send you to a private arbitrator instead. Most arbitration clauses also block class actions.
Look for an opt-out provision. Some contracts let you opt out within 30 to 60 days of signing by sending written notice. If that window is closed, arbitration may be your only path unless the clause is unconscionable or otherwise unenforceable under your state’s law. Talk to an attorney before you assume you can sue.
Confirm You’re Within the Filing Deadline
Every claim has a statute of limitations. Miss it and the court will dismiss the case permanently no matter how strong your evidence is. Personal injury claims generally run one to six years depending on the state. Breach of contract typically runs two to ten years, with some states allowing longer for written contracts.
The clock usually starts on the date of the harm. Many states apply a discovery rule when the injury wasn’t obvious at the time, restarting the clock when you discovered the harm or reasonably should have. A separate statute of repose sets an absolute outer cutoff that overrides the discovery rule, so even late-discovered claims eventually expire. If you’re anywhere near a deadline, treat it as an emergency.
Identify the Correct Legal Entity
You sue a company by its official legal name, not the brand or storefront name you know it by. A “doing business as” name is not a separate legal entity; it points back to the registered company behind it. Naming the wrong party can get your case dismissed, or leave you with a judgment you can’t collect.
Search the business entity database run by the Secretary of State in the state where the company is registered. Most states offer a free online search that returns the official name, the entity’s status, and the registered agent, which is the person or service designated to accept legal papers for the company. Save the registered agent’s name and address; you’ll need them to serve the lawsuit.
Watch for parent companies and subsidiaries. The business you dealt with may be a subsidiary of a larger corporation, and a parent is generally not liable for a subsidiary’s actions. Courts sometimes make an exception when the parent exercises so much control over the subsidiary that they function as a single entity, or when the subsidiary is undercapitalized and used to shield the parent. If you suspect the entity you dealt with is a shell, sort out the right defendant before you file.
Pick the Right Court
Small Claims or Civil Court
The amount at stake decides which court hears your case. Small claims courts handle lower-value disputes through a faster, simpler process. State caps vary, generally running from about $3,500 to $25,000. If your claim exceeds the cap, you file in general civil court (called district, superior, or circuit court depending on the state), which involves formal procedures, longer timelines, and no ceiling on damages.
State or Federal Court
Most cases against companies belong in state court. Federal court is available in two situations: your claim arises under federal law (federal question jurisdiction), or you and the company are citizens of different states and more than $75,000 is in dispute.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1332 – Diversity of Citizenship; Amount in Controversy; Costs A company is treated as a citizen of the state where it’s incorporated and the state where it has its principal place of business.
Personal Jurisdiction
You can’t sue a company in just any state. The court must have personal jurisdiction over the defendant, which means the company has enough connection to that state to make it fair to require them to defend the case there. A company is always subject to jurisdiction in its state of incorporation or headquarters. Beyond that, courts look at whether the company has sufficient “minimum contacts” with the state.3Legal Information Institute. Minimum Contacts Doing business in the state, keeping an office there, or causing harm inside the state through a product or service can each establish jurisdiction. Filing in a court that lacks jurisdiction is one of the fastest ways to lose your case.
Send a Demand Letter and Preserve Evidence
Before filing, send the company a formal demand letter. Lay out what happened, describe the harm, state a specific demand (usually a dollar figure), and set a firm response deadline of 14 or 30 days. Say plainly that you’ll sue if the matter isn’t resolved. A demand letter sometimes produces a settlement without litigation, and it later shows the court you tried to resolve the dispute in good faith.
Once you anticipate filing, you have a legal obligation to preserve anything relevant: documents, emails, texts, photos, contracts, physical items. Don’t delete files or let an automatic backup overwrite stored data. The company has the same duty once it knows litigation is coming. Destroying or altering relevant evidence, called spoliation, can lead to court sanctions, including a jury instruction that the destroyed material would have been unfavorable to whoever got rid of it. For electronic records, take screenshots, export messages, and back up copies right away.
Draft the Complaint
The document that opens a lawsuit is called a complaint (a petition in some states). Under the federal rules, it must contain a statement of the court’s authority to hear the case, a plain description of your claim showing you’re entitled to relief, and a demand for the specific relief you want.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 8 – General Rules of Pleading State courts have similar requirements with local variations.
In practice, your complaint needs:
- The parties: your full legal name as plaintiff and the company’s official legal name as defendant.
- The facts: a chronological account of what happened, written so someone unfamiliar with the dispute can follow it.
- The legal claims: the specific theories supporting your case, such as breach of contract, negligence, or fraud. Each is called a cause of action.
- The relief requested: exactly what you want the court to order, whether money damages, an injunction, or both.
The complaint doesn’t have to prove your case, but it does have to allege enough facts to make each claim plausible. A vague complaint that recites legal conclusions without supporting facts can be dismissed before you present any evidence.
File the Complaint and Serve the Company
Filing
Take the complaint to the clerk’s office at the appropriate court and pay the filing fee. Small claims filing fees usually run about $15 to $75, sometimes exceeding $200 near the maximum claim amount. General civil filing fees are higher, often several hundred dollars. Many courts allow electronic filing. If you can’t afford the fee, most courts will consider a fee waiver based on your income.
Service of Process
After filing, the court issues a summons, the formal notice telling the company it’s being sued and how long it has to respond. You then have to deliver both the summons and the complaint to the company. This delivery, called service of process, follows specific rules. For a corporation, service typically means delivering copies to an officer, a managing agent, or the registered agent.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4 – Summons
You cannot serve the papers yourself. Service has to be done by someone at least 18 years old who is not a party to the case, usually a sheriff’s deputy or a professional process server. Process servers generally charge between $40 and $200. After delivery, the server files a proof of service with the court showing when, where, and how service happened. Without valid proof of service, the case cannot move forward.
What Happens After the Company Is Served
The Response Window
In federal court, the company has 21 days to respond. State deadlines usually run 20 to 30 days. If the company does nothing, you can ask the court to enter a default and then seek a default judgment.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 55 – Default For a specific dollar amount, the clerk can sometimes enter it; otherwise a judge reviews the request and you may need to prove your damages.
The Answer
The most common response is an answer, in which the company works through your complaint point by point, admitting, denying, or claiming it lacks information about each allegation. Answers usually include affirmative defenses, which are arguments that would defeat the claim even if your allegations were true, such as that you sued too late, were partly at fault, or failed to mitigate your damages.
Motions to Dismiss
Instead of answering, the company may file a motion to dismiss, arguing your case has a fatal legal defect. Common grounds are lack of jurisdiction over the company, filing in the wrong location, or a complaint that fails to state a viable claim. The court rules on this before the case moves forward. A granted motion can end the case, though some dismissals let you fix the problem and refile.
Counterclaims
The company can sue you back inside the same case with a counterclaim. If the company’s claim arises out of the same events as your lawsuit, it generally has to raise it in the answer or lose it for good.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 13 – Counterclaim and Crossclaim Before you file, think honestly about whether the company might have any claims against you. Suing can open the door to claims you’d rather not defend against.
Discovery
If the case survives early motions, both sides move into discovery, where each party gathers evidence from the other. Under the federal rules, each side must make initial disclosures without being asked, including people with relevant information, relevant documents, a damages calculation, and any applicable insurance.8U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26
The main discovery tools are:
- Interrogatories, written questions the other side must answer under oath. Federal rules cap each side at 25 unless the court allows more.
- Requests for production, formal demands for documents, electronic records, or physical items.
- Depositions, live recorded questioning of witnesses under oath, transcribed by a court reporter. Deposition testimony can be used at trial.
Discovery disputes are common. The company may resist producing documents, claim attorney-client privilege, or argue your requests are too broad. Courts resolve those fights through motions to compel, with sanctions available against parties who obstruct the process. Discovery lasts months, dominates the cost of a lawsuit, and is a big reason so many cases settle.
What It Will Cost
Cost tracks how far the case goes. Small claims is cheap. You pay a filing fee and handle the case yourself, since most small claims courts don’t allow attorneys. Civil litigation is another matter. Attorney hourly rates typically run $150 to $500. A straightforward contract dispute might cost $2,500 to $5,000 in legal fees, while a contested case with depositions, expert witnesses, and heavy discovery can run $10,000 to $50,000 or more.
Many attorneys handling personal injury, consumer protection, or employment cases work on contingency, taking a percentage of your recovery instead of billing hourly. The standard contingency fee is 33% to 40% of what you win or settle for. You pay nothing upfront, but you owe the percentage if you recover. You’re usually also responsible for costs (filing fees, deposition transcripts, expert witnesses) regardless of the outcome, though some contingency agreements roll those in. Ask for the fee structure in writing before you hire anyone.
Expect the Case to Settle
Roughly 95% of civil lawsuits resolve through settlement before trial. Settlement can happen at any point, from the demand letter phase, through the middle of discovery, up to the courthouse steps. Many courts require the parties to attempt mediation, a structured negotiation with a neutral mediator, before a trial date is set. That should shape your strategy. The goal of filing a well-prepared lawsuit is usually not to reach a verdict but to create enough legal pressure that the company agrees to reasonable terms. A strong complaint backed by real evidence puts you in a far better position than a demand letter alone.