If a person merely believes his or her rights have been violated can a lawsuit can be filed?

Answer 1

No. What you believe is not fact. To sue someone there needs to be more than just thinking your rights have been violated. You have to prove they have been violated and show how. Let's say you are told by an employer that you can wear your hair a certain way. This would not violate your rights since all people working for this person have to follow the same standard and you have a choice not to work there or to follow the standard. You may "believe" this is not right, but you would have to show that you are the only person required to follow the standard compared to other people who work there.

Technically, a lawsuit is all about a "belief" that you have been wronged - this belief is not tested UNTIL the lawsuit is heard in court. So, the proper answer to your question is YES, you can sue based on your belief of being violated. Actual evidence supporting your belief is required only AFTER the suit has been filed (usually, during the initial discovery process or evidentiary hearing).

That said, there are levels of professional conduct in the legal profession which state that the lawyer representing you must actually believe you have a reasonable case - i.e. a case that can be won, not that it has to be likely to be won. If you cannot provide some reasonable evidence to support your belief in injury, a lawyer is ethically forbidden from taking your case. And, of course, there is nothing preventing a judge from looking at your suit and immediately throwing it out (even if you have a lawyer) due to it not being a "reasonable" suit (i.e. one with some evidence to back up your actual legal claim).

Unfortunately, there are many lawyers who violate their ethical duty and take cases that should never be filed in the first place. These cases get tossed (as "nuisance" cases) and never progress, but the lawyer is seldom disciplined for their lack of ethics. Individuals who sue without a lawyer can also be subject to punishment from a court if they file too many nuisance cases - the judge can label such an offender as a being permanently barred from bringing self-argued suits to a court (that is, such a person would HAVE to retain a lawyer, and such a lawyer would be well-advised to avoid any poor suit, as a judge would likely discipline the lawyer too).