In California, there are several different grounds that can lead to a business dispute. Often, prior agreements and contracts have terms that the businesses disagree upon. Disputes can also occur over property matters, billing issues or other disagreements.

What to Do in a Business Dispute?

The first step when involved in a business dispute in Rancho Santa Margarita, California should be to review any documents relevant to the matter, such as contracts. It may have already been decided in these documents how disputes will be handled. However, the dispute may need to be taken to court if contracts do not have resolution clauses, or if there are no documents relevant to the dispute. Where the parties have not agreed beforehand about how to handle disputes, legal principles have been designed to determine the resolution. When they are called upon, California courts try to discover the best resolution by looking to the facts of the particular situation presented. There are laws specific to each state that govern how to approach dispute resolution. Attorneys practicing in Rancho Santa Margarita are best suited to offer advice in accordance with California law. An attorney's knowledge of the law may also lead to a more streamlined discussion with the other business about how to resolve the dispute. Negotiations may even enable you to resolve the dispute without going to court.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Disputes in contracts must often be resolved outside of court according to a dispute resolution clause. Methods of resolving a conflict outside of court are called Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR. These methods include Mediation, Arbitration and Collaboration. ADR makes going to court unnecessary, because it is designed to reach the same result that a court would have. Still, some methods of ADR entail their own formal procedures, most enlisting a third party to decide a dispute based on local law just as a judge would do. In Rancho Santa Margarita, Attorneys practiced in ADR can help if your business dispute is to be resolved out of court.