There are three levels of civil actions; small claims (claims up to $15,000), expedited actions (liquidated claims up to $100,000) and regular civil actions (claims over $100,000).

A small claim action is commenced by filing a Small Claim. A defendant must respond by filing a Defence.

Expedited actions and a regular civil actions are commenced by filing either a Notice of Application or, more commonly, a Statement of Claim. Statements of Claim do not typically state the amount at issue unless it is a liquidated sum, and are required to contain sufficient facts and allegations to set out a cause of action against the defendant. Once a Statement of Claim is filed in the Court of Queen's Bench, the plaintiff has 6 months to serve it on the defendant. The defendant is then supposed to file its Statement of Defence within 20 days; however, that timeframe is often exceeded with the agreement of counsel. The Statement of Defence sets forth the denials and allegations giving rise to the defence. The plaintiff may serve a Reply to the Statement of Defence within 10 days (or as agreed by counsel). These documents collectively are called the pleadings.