0 the act of using a lawyer or a court to help settle a disagreement, etc. that you have with a person or an organization:
He threatened to take legal action against me over a comment I had made about him on my blog.
1 the process of using lawyers, courts of law, etc. to solve disagreements, or an occasion when this happens:
costly/further/possible legal action He declined to comment on the situation further because of possible legal actions.
have grounds for legal action Lawyers say the company probably has grounds for legal action under the Trades Description Act.
the threat/prospect of legal action The threat of legal action is the latest twist in an increasingly bitter dispute between management and unions.
face legal action Several leading national newspapers now face legal actions for libel.
begin/launch/bring legal action (against sb/sth) The European Commission launched legal action against two member states.
take legal action (against sb/sth) Lenders do not generally take legal action until the borrower is three months in arrears.
threaten (sb with) legal action Employers who hire illegal immigrants are being threatened with legal action.
legal action against sb There will be no legal action against the healthcare trust.
Most difficult of all was the situation in which an attorney was called upon to take legal action adverse to the wishes of the government.
Despite donor promptings that those alleged to have behaved corruptly be prosecuted and punished, little legal action was undertaken.
One aspect of this responsibility is to take a stand in the refusal to employ medically inappropriate interventions, even under the threat of legal action.
What form that legal action would have taken was not entirely clear, but "wrongful life" appeared the most likely.
Men, women, and couples were equally likely to have been accused of such things and to have responded by raising a legal action for defamation.
They also may lead to legal action being taken by those affected and may reduce public confidence in screening.
Patient expectations, the compulsion to act, and the threat of legal action motivate clinicians at a professional and at a personal level.
If people had observed the intent of the clan regulations, no such additional recommendations as official notices, discouraging legal action, would have been necessary.
