A plaintiff will have a statement of claim issued by the registrar of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island. There are three sets of procedures available: small claims court (claims up to $16,000); simplified procedure (claims up to $25,000 subject to exclusions); and ordinary procedure (claims over $25,000 and those excluded from simplified procedure). The statement of claim sets out the alleged facts that would render the defendant liable at law for the plaintiff's damages. Once a statement of claim is issued, the plaintiff has 6 months to serve it on the defendant. The defendant must then file a statement of defence denying the allegations of the plaintiff and/or setting out additional or alternative facts as to why the defendant is not liable to the plaintiff. The statement of defence must be served and filed within 20 days if served in PEI, 40 days if served in another province or in the United States, or 60 days if served internationally. The defendant may also choose to counterclaim or add additional parties. Upon receipt of the statement of defence, the plaintiff may then serve a reply within 10 days. These documents are collectively called the pleadings and frame the issues for the subsequent stages of the litigation. If a jury trial is desired, then a jury notice would be filed at the close of pleadings.

The close of pleadings also triggers case management by a court administrator. Case management typically takes the form of telephone calls between counsel and the court administrator to discuss advancing the matter and any procedural issues that arise.