{{Short description|Lawsuit of questionable merit}} A '''strike suit''' is a lawsuit of questionable merit<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}} </ref> 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.
==See also== *In terrorem *Patent trolls
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Corporate law Category:United States securities law Category:Lawsuits