Crossword Genius

Parentage clubs in a court case (9,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

paternity suit

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'a court case' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'parentage clubs' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'clubs' could be 'suit' (clubs is an example of a card suit) and 'suit' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'paternity' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for paternity suit that I've seen is " A who's-the-daddy action".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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