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:
“Being blunt with your feelings is very American. In this big country, I can be as brash as New York, as hedonistic as Los Angeles, as sensuous as San Francisco, as brainy as Boston, as proper as Philadelphia, as brawny as Chicago, as warm as Palm Springs, as friendly as my adopted home town of Dallas, Fort Worth, and as peaceful as the inland waterway that rubs up against my former home in Virginia Beach.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“Adriana. With what persuasion did he tempt thy love?
Luciana. With words that in an honest suit might move.
First he did praise my beauty, then my speech.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)