Your rights come from the contract first. Check the termination, notice, and dispute-resolution clauses before doing anything — including before you stop performing your own obligations, which can put you in breach. Damages are the usual remedy, and you generally have a duty to limit your own losses.

Being Sued

The claim's deadline is the only thing that matters this week: fail to respond and the plaintiff can take default judgment for everything claimed. Respond in time, preserve documents, and let strategy — defense, counterclaim, settlement — follow.

Defamed Online

False statements of fact that harm reputation are actionable; opinions and true statements generally aren't. Remedies range from takedown demands and platform reports to defamation suits — with short limitation periods in many places and evidence that vanishes fast.

Someone Owes Me Money

Collection is a sequence: written demand, then suit in the right forum (small claims for modest amounts), then judgment enforcement — garnishment, liens, seizures. Documentation and the debtor's collectability decide whether it's worth each step.

Your Business Has Been Sued

Act immediately — court documents carry strict response deadlines, and missing one can result in a default judgment against you without any hearing on the merits. Do not ignore it, and do not contact the other side's lawyer before you've taken advice.

Other Practice Areas

Corporate Law Lawyers Tax Law Lawyers Employment Law Lawyers Family Law Lawyers Banking & Finance Lawyers Child Custody Lawyers Property Division Lawyers Divorce Lawyers

Go deeper

Guides, Forums & Where This Is Decided

Background reading and the bodies that hear civil litigation matters.

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Where this is decided

Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal
Ontario · Administrative
Alberta Human Rights Commission
Alberta · Administrative — investigative & adjudicative
Animal Care Review Board (ACRB)
Ontario · Administrative
Assessment Review Board (ARB)
Ontario · Administrative
BC Human Rights Tribunal
British Columbia · Administrative — adjudicative

All courts & tribunals

If your issue involves a company or institution, the Banking & Financial Institutions consumer rights section sets out how to escalate and who regulates it.