An injury becomes a lawsuit only when a legal entitlement is violated

Evidence

If cases arise out of disputes, then disputes arise out of grievances, and grievances out of injuries. People suffer injuries—physical, economic, psychic—every day. These injuries do not become grievances, however, unless the injured party believes that she is unjustly deprived by another party of something to which she is entitled. Injuries do not become litigable grievances—that is, grievances one could take to court—unless one is deprived of something to which one is legally entitled. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1055

If cases arise out of disputes, then disputes arise out of grievances, and grievances out of injuries. People suffer injuries—physical, economic, psychic—every day. These injuries do not become grievances, however, unless the injured party believes that she is unjustly deprived by another party of something to which she is entitled. Injuries do not become litigable grievances—that is, grievances one could take to court—unless one is deprived of something to which one is legally entitled. A few examples may help clarify this. You have no grievance against the government, for example, if it imprisons you for a crime you have committed, because your loss of liberty is deserved. Or suppose your house is destroyed by a tornado. In such a case, you suffered an injury that was undeserved, but you have no grievance, because no one is responsible for the damage. Finally, suppose you operate a pizzeria, and a competitor cuts into your sales. You certainly have suffered harm and know who caused it, but there is no litigable grievance, because you had no legal right to a fixed level of sales or profits. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1055

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely defines the layering from injury to grievance to litigable grievance — a core conceptual ladder for civil procedure.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1055
• XREF: connects to: Stigma itself constitutes an injury distinct from material loss — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 204; Substantive law sets entitlements while procedural law governs how they are pursued — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 175

Broader Connections

• Stigma itself constitutes an injury distinct from material loss #expands (0.75) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 204