While running your business, you may interact with merger or acquisition candidates, vendors, investment banks, retailers, joint venture partners, and a host of other businesses. From founding to dissolving your company, you build many relationships, and these human interactions can sometimes lead to disagreements.
Our business litigation attorneys know you have options to settle these disputes. Commercial litigation may be the best option if you have been put in a position to lose a lot of money and possibly your business. Alternative dispute resolution options, including mediation and arbitration, may be preferable in some other situations. Our Phoenix business-to-business dispute lawyers will help you determine the best route for your situation.
Options for Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mediation
Mediation is very often an advisable step toward resolving disputes prior to litigation or arbitration. An independent, knowledgeable, and unbiased mediator oversees an informal process in which the participants air their grievances and attempt to settle them. The mediator makes creative suggestions and encourages the parties to communicate their differences but cannot render a decision or require the parties to settle.
Mediation is private, so businesses do not have to worry about unflattering publicity or losing customers’ goodwill. Mediation is also non-binding, so participants can walk away from stalled negotiations and proceed by engaging in arbitration or filing a commercial lawsuit. Our Phoenix attorneys can help business owners decide whether mediation is the best option for solving a business-to-business dispute and, if so, how to proceed to get the best possible outcome at mediation.
Arbitration
Arbitration is more formal than mediation and ends with an arbitrator’s binding decision. Parties to arbitration engage in discovery and can present witnesses, much like a court trial. Arbitrators consider what each party believes is fair and try to find a middle ground in which both parties make equal concessions. The arbitration process is usually private, a potential advantage over the court process, which involves a public record that is accessible to competitors and shareholders.
Commercial Litigation
When a dispute between two businesses becomes so contentious that there is no other solution but to sue, the risks can be as great as ‘betting the company.’ Business owners must carefully weigh the pros and cons of litigation, as it can be financially and emotionally expensive. Examples of circumstances that may require business-to-business litigation include the following:
- Disputing contract terms that include excessive penalties;
- Discovering a competitor has pilfered intellectual property and is offering it to consumers at a lower price;
- Engaging in a joint venture with a toy manufacturer that fails to warn consumers the product is a choking hazard; or
- Agreeing to an acquisition of a business in which the acquirer acted fraudulently.
Depending on the circumstances, commercial litigation can be appropriate in disputes between fledgling or established and successful businesses. Regardless of the entities involved, our lawyers can handle the mechanics of these legal disputes, allowing Phoenix business owners to focus on their company’s success.
A Phoenix Business-to-Business Dispute Attorney Understands Your Options
When your business runs smoothly, you may not have considered what to do if a serious dispute arises. You have choices for resolving these disputes. You can often submit to mediation or binding arbitration. If the issues are more complex, you may choose to pursue litigation in court.
The legal team at Giles Law can offer guidance and support for all these options and work with you to determine which is best for your circumstances. Disputes among businesses are inevitable, and you are not expected to know how to resolve them all. Our Phoenix business-to-business dispute lawyers can advocate for your needs. Call now to discuss how we can help you reach a favorable resolution.
