In the United States, a friendly suit is most often used when two parties desire or require judicial recognition of a settlement agreement, and so one sues the other despite the lack of conflict between them.
The law condones this practice because there are several benefits to settling a lawsuit as opposed to settling a claim outside of a lawsuit. First, if one of the parties to the claim is a minor, they usually cannot settle the claim without the appointment of a guardian ad litem to review and accept the settlement. Once the suit is filed, and the settlement is reviewed by the ad litem who considers the best interest of the child, after which the parties can then file a joint motion for the court to render judgment, which would then be binding on all parties regardless of their minority.
When there is a judgment, the parties also gain the defense of res judica if sued again on the same topic.
Friendly suits are generally prohibited in the Article III courts of the United States. As in United States v. Johnson, 319 U.S. 302 (1943). In practice, however, friendly suits are rarely explicitly described as such, and they could easily slip into the judicial system through some casual omissions.
Famous quotes containing the words friendly and/or suit:
“America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.”
—A.J. (Arnold Joseph)
“One year, I’d completely lost my bearings trying to follow potty training instruction from a psychiatric expert. I was stuck on step on, which stated without an atom of irony: “Before you begin, remove all stubbornness from the child.” . . . I knew it only could have been written by someone whose suit coat was still spotless at the end of the day, not someone who had any hands-on experience with an actual two-year-old.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)