1. The process of carrying on a lawsuit (the attorney advised his client to make a generous settlement offer in order to avoid litigation).
2. A lawsuit itself (several litigations pending before the court). — litigate, vb. — litigatory, litigational, adj.
complex litigation. Litigation involving several parties who are separately represented, and usu. involving multifarious factual and legal issues.
“What exactly is ‘complex litigation’? The problem is that no one really knows — or, more accurately perhaps, various definitions don’t agree. Complex civil litigation has an ‘I-know-it-when-I-see-it’ quality. Nearly everyone agrees that matters like the massive asbestos litigation, the AT&T antitrust suit, or the remedial phase of a school desegregation case are complex. But trying to find a common thread that both describes these cases and distinguishes them from the run-of-the-mill car crash is difficult.” Jay Tidmarsh & Roger H. Transgrud, Complex Litigation 1 (2002).
