Commercial Legal Dispute Arises
Commercial Disputes
Commercial disputes are unfortunately a fact of business life, and every once in a while all businesses will have some sort of disagreement with another party.
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The larger the business enterprise, the more disagreements they are likely to have.
For example a small sole trader’s high street coffee shop will probably only have one or two significant disagreements with third parties throughout the year, whereas big corporates such as BA, Tesco and Virgin etc. will have numerous disagreements on an ongoing basis.
Many, if not most of these disagreements will sort themselves out relatively quickly, if the parties are able to talk to each other, listen to each other, and take a step back to consider the other parties point of view.
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Resolving such disagreements at an early stage allows both parties to save face, save money, and potentially even save the existing business relationship, and continue to trade with each other. This would not be the case if the original disagreement developed into a commercial legal dispute.
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Note: It is far far better to resolve the disagreement amicably yourself, than to proceed towards an adversarial commercial legal dispute.
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But for the purposes of this article, we shall assume you haven’t been able to settle matters yourself, and a legal dispute may be on the horizon.
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According to lawinsider.com the definition of a commercial legal dispute is;
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Legal Dispute means any dispute, controversy or claim, of any and every kind or type, whether based on contract, tort, statute, regulations, or otherwise, arising out of, connected with, or relating in any way to the Agreement, the relationship of the Parties, the obligations of the Parties or the operations carried out under the Agreement, including any dispute as to the existence, validity, construction, interpretation, negotiation, performance, non-performance, breach, termination, or enforceability of the Agreement.
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So in summary you have a dispute with an opposing party that you were unable to resolve satisfactorily between yourselves, both parties still feel they are in the right, and therefore are prepared to seek legal representation to take the dispute through the legal process and ultimately Court if necessary.
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Before both parties go ahead with a commercial dispute, they should carefully consider the following;
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Is it worth is financially?
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Is it worth the hassle and stress?
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Can they afford it?
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Do they want the publicity?
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Can they commit several years to the cause?
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If after careful consideration of the potential drawbacks you still consider legal action is the right way to go for your commercial legal dispute, then you will need to make contact with a commercial litigation lawyer or solicitor.
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Most commercial litigation lawyers will provide a free initial consultation service, whereby they will gather as much information about your commercial dispute from you as possible, within a limited period of time (30mins to 60mins), and then make a quick decision based on what you have told them. They will usually say one of three things;
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1. Your commercial dispute is not viable (for any number of reasons).
2. Your commercial dispute sounds like it has good merits, and we can act for you if required. (potential fee structure set out)
3. We can’t make a decision just yet, as we need more information about your commercial dispute. (possibly free possibly paid)
Let’s assume you received answer 2, and agreed to proceed with that commercial lawyer.
The next step is the legal assessment.