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And then had come the unlooked-for tidings of the imminent proceedings for divorce. And such a divorce! There were cross-suits and allegations and counter-allegations, charges of cruelty and desertion, everything in fact that was necessary to make the case one of the most complicated and sensational of its kind.

from www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/UnkiBlow802.shtml

What does "cross-suits" and "of its kind" mean? I found "cross" and "suit", but I couldn't find "cross-suits". I don't understand the role of "of its kind" in this sentence.

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  • Have you tried looking these terms up in a dictionary?
    – Michael Rybkin
    Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 13:36
  • I found "cross" and "suit", but I couldn't find "cross-suits ". I don't understand the role of "of its kind" in this sentence.
    – bandaid
    Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 13:47

2 Answers 2

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Cross-suits means that the parties concerned - the couple getting divorced - were suing each other.

Of its kind refers to the type of headline-grabbing, antagonistic divorce (often involving celebrities or very wealthy people and fought in the courts by high profile lawyers) of which this case is typical.

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"Cross-suits" is a legal term meaning that A is suing B while B is suing A.

The phrase "of its kind" is a bit ambiguous with just the one sentence to go on, but it refers to "case" and therefore excludes some cases from consideration. Which cases are being considered? Presumably divorce cases, but additional context might better define the set of cases of which this particular one is the "most complicated and sensational."

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