Sentence:  Even though the plaintiff was ordered by the judge to pay some costs for not having followed the correct procedure, she won the case on the <WSD>merits</WSD>. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  "Usually in the plural form" '''the merits''': the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc., as opposed to technical matters such as the admissibility of evidence or points of legal procedure;  the overall good or bad quality, or rightness or wrongness, of some other thing.