A strike suit is a lawsuit of questionable merit[1] brought by a single person or group of people with the purpose of gaining a private settlement before going to court that would be less than the cost of the defendant's legal costs.
[2] Such suits frequently appear where the defendant is a considerably larger entity than the plaintiff, such as a corporation or an estate.
Company shareholders sometimes use strike suits as a means of addressing perceived failures by or discontentment with the company while avoiding becoming embroiled in litigation themselves.