In Hawaii, there are many 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?

If a business dispute should happen in Hilo, Hawaii, you should review any documents that are relevant to the disagreement, especially contracts. These documents might have clauses that must be followed when considering how to resolve the dispute. Not all contracts have dispute resolution clauses, of course, and occasionally neither business has any documents relevant to the dispute at all. If that is the case, a court might be needed to resolve the dispute. Hawaii courts will look to your individual case and try to discover the best resolution. In determining the outcome, they will use a specific set of legal principles designed for situations where the parties have not agreed beforehand on how to handle a dispute. Disputes over contracts and other agreements are handled differently depending on the laws of each state. Lawyers in Hilo know the laws of Hawaii, and can offer individualized advice for those involved in business disputes. Discussion with the other business about how to resolve the dispute might also proceed more smoothly under the direction of an attorney, avoiding the need to go to court.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Sometimes contracts themselves require that disputes under them be resolved outside of court. Methods of conflict resolution of this form are called Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR. ADR includes Mediation, Arbitration and sometimes a combination of the two. 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 determine a dispute based on local law just as a judge would do. An attorney experienced with ADR in Hilo can counsel you through the process if your business dispute is to be resolved by ADR.