Litigation is a troublesome thing (5)

I believe the answer is:

trial

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'litigation' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.

(Other definitions for trial that I've seen before include "Court hearing" , "Legal hearing" , "French actor who sings" , "Testing, experiment" , "Court appearance on charge - it's an ordeal" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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