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One initiating a lawsuit in ugly dispute (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

plaintiff

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'one initiating a lawsuit' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

'ugly dispute' is the wordplay.
'ugly' becomes 'plain' (I've seen this before).
'dispute' becomes 'tiff' (tiff is a kind of dispute).
'plain'+'tiff'='PLAINTIFF'

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for plaintiff that I've seen before include "One bringing civil court case" , "one prompting action" , "Complainant" , "The one taking the court action" , "one in suit" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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