In Ontario, a lawsuit is started when a document called a Statement of Claim is filed at the court and served to the opposing party. This document basically details the amount of money you are suing for, explains the circumstances surrounding your injury, describes what was expected of the defendant and where they went wrong etc. Serving the Statement of Claim basically means giving the document to the other party so that the opposing party knows that legal actions is being taken against them. The lawyer for the defendant will then prepare and serve a response to the Statement of Claim, called a Statement of Defence. This defence needs to be served to the original party within a specified amount of time (depending on where the plaintiff and the defendant are), or else a judgement may be made against the defendant without them being present.