Should Christians Sue? What the Bible Actually Says About Lawsuits in Business

There is a belief I have heard repeatedly in Christian circles: Christians shouldn't sue people. I heard it personally when I was running Planet Ballroom®. During my years as a franchisor, I filed three lawsuits involving former franchisees. One involved what I believed were defamatory accusations against me and the company. Another involved franchisees who stopped paying contractual fees while continuing to operate using our brand and intellectual property. The third involved franchise owners who professed to be Christians themselves.

Some fellow believers questioned whether filing lawsuits was compatible with my faith. It forced me to confront a much better question than, “Should Christians sue?” What does the Bible actually require of a Christian when someone causes serious harm, breaks an agreement, refuses reconciliation, or acts unjustly? The answer is considerably more complicated than “turn the other cheek.”

The Verse Christians Can't Ignore

Anyone arguing that Scripture places no restrictions on lawsuits has a problem: 1 Corinthians 6. Paul strongly rebukes Christians for taking disputes with fellow believers before secular courts. He asks why members of the church cannot find wise people among themselves capable of resolving such matters. He goes even further: sometimes suffering a wrong is preferable to damaging the witness and unity of the church through litigation.

That matters. A Christian business owner should not treat litigation as the first response to every disagreement. Pride, anger, punishment, intimidation, and the desire to “make somebody pay” are terrible reasons to sue. But that is not the same thing as saying the Bible teaches that Christians must never use courts.

In Romans 12, Paul tells believers not to take personal revenge. Immediately afterward, Romans 13 describes governing authorities as God's servants charged with responding to wrongdoing. Personal vengeance and legitimate civil justice are not treated as identical things. Paul himself also invoked his legal rights. After being unlawfully beaten and imprisoned, he refused to quietly disappear when authorities wanted him gone. Later, facing accusations, he exercised his right as a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar.

Christianity requires humility. It does not require legal helplessness.

Turn the Other Cheek Doesn't Mean Become a Punching Bag

Jesus' instruction to turn the other cheek is one of the most important teachings on Christian non-retaliation. In the same passage, Jesus even describes surrendering more than demanded when someone sues you. A Christian cannot simply wave this passage away whenever protecting money becomes inconvenient. But Scripture also repeatedly recognizes justice, property disputes, restitution, truthful testimony, and adjudication. Exodus describes property disputes being brought before judges. Deuteronomy requires investigation of false accusations and consequences for malicious witnesses.

The biblical picture therefore isn't:

Someone wronged me → destroy them.

But neither is it:

Someone wronged me → Christianity requires me to permit it indefinitely.

The distinction is between retaliation and resolution.

Protecting Your Reputation Is Not the Same as Protecting Your Ego

The Bible does not treat a person's reputation as meaningless. Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” For a business owner, a good name is not merely about ego. Reputation affects customers, employees, partners, opportunities, and the livelihood of everyone depending on the business.

I experienced this when a former franchisee and her husband published accusations about me and Planet Ballroom® that I believed were demonstrably false, including allegations of dishonesty and stealing. I asked for the false statements to be removed, but they remained online until I filed a defamation lawsuit.

Once attorneys became involved, the posts came down, and I later dropped the lawsuit. I wasn't seeking a financial windfall or trying to punish them; the practical objective was to stop what I believed was false information from continuing to damage my name and my company. Sometimes pursuing legal action is not about vengeance. It is the mechanism available to stop an ongoing harm.

When My Christian Franchisees Broke Their Agreement

I faced this distinction directly with franchisees who were active Christian believers and held leadership positions in their church. They wanted out of their franchise agreement because the business had not made them wealthy as quickly as they expected. From my perspective, their location was performing within the expectations established by our franchise documents and showing promising growth. They nevertheless decided to close and refused the contractual damages associated with doing so.

Because they were believers, I tried something different. I proposed that we follow the reconciliation principles of Matthew 18. Jesus describes beginning privately, then involving witnesses, then bringing an unresolved matter before the church community. I offered to bring a pastor from my church while they brought a pastor or representative from theirs. We would present the documentation, hear both sides, and seek a fair resolution within the Christian community.

They initially agreed. Then they said they would participate only if I first conceded that they had just cause to terminate the franchise. In other words, mediation was acceptable only after I surrendered the dispute the mediation was supposed to resolve. I refused. Eventually, I sued.

Your Signature Should Mean Something

One part of this experience bothered me beyond the money. These were contracts. Psalm 15 describes a righteous person as someone who “keeps an oath even when it hurts.” Ecclesiastes similarly warns against making commitments and then refusing to fulfill them. Those passages concern oaths and vows rather than modern franchise agreements, but the underlying moral principle is difficult to miss: integrity becomes most meaningful when keeping your word becomes inconvenient.

A Christian business owner cannot demand that another believer behave biblically by refusing litigation while simultaneously dismissing biblical obligations concerning honesty, reconciliation, and keeping commitments. Faith cannot become a one-sided shield against accountability.

A Better Christian Framework for Business Disputes

The question isn't simply, “Am I allowed to sue?” Ask instead:

Have I pursued peace before escalation?

If this involves another believer, have I made a genuine effort to resolve it within the Christian community?

Am I pursuing restitution and protection—or revenge?

Is the harm serious enough that allowing it to continue damages employees, customers, partners, family members, intellectual property, or other people entrusted to my care?

Have I kept my own commitments and approached the dispute honestly?

And perhaps most importantly:

Would I still believe this lawsuit was necessary if I weren't angry?

That last question separates justice from vengeance surprisingly well.

Christian business owners should be different. We should be slower to retaliate, quicker to reconcile, willing at times to absorb losses, and unusually serious about keeping our word. But being different does not mean becoming defenseless.

Sometimes grace means letting something go.

Sometimes wisdom means mediation.

And sometimes, after reasonable attempts at reconciliation have failed, justice requires allowing a legitimate authority to determine what is owed.

The Gambit

Before filing your next lawsuit—or refusing to file one because you think Christians “aren't supposed to sue”—remove both anger and religious tradition from the decision. Ask a harder question:

Am I pursuing revenge, or am I responsibly pursuing justice after exhausting a better path?

Those are not the same thing. Scripture shouldn't be used to pretend they are.

When Business Gets Personal

Some of the hardest lessons I learned as an entrepreneur didn't come from marketing campaigns, growth strategies, or successful expansions. They came from conflict—broken agreements, franchise disputes, lawsuits, accusations, and moments when I had to decide what I was willing to fight for and what I was willing to let go.

I share more of those experiences in Lemonade Maker®, including some of the legal battles and business conflicts that helped reshape the way I think about entrepreneurship, adversity, judgment, and resilience. Because building a business isn't only about knowing how to grow when things are going well. It's about learning who you become—and how you make decisions—when things go very wrong.

Read Lemonade Maker® and discover the lessons that are rarely taught until you've lived through them yourself.