There are various grounds that can lead to business disputes in Indiana. Business may disagree about the terms of contracts and prior arrangements. Billing issues, property matters and other grounds can also give rise to disputes between businesses.

What to Do in a Business Dispute?

If you are involved in a business dispute in St. Joseph County, Indiana you should first review all relevant documents, including past and current contracts. These documents might contain clauses that dictate how and where you should handle a dispute. If there are no dispute resolution clauses in the contracts, or there are no attending documents at all, the parties might always resort to the courts to resolve the dispute. Indiana courts may use legal principles to determine the outcome when the parties have not agreed beforehand about how to handle a dispute. In so doing, they look carefully to a specific case to discover the best resolution for all involved. Disputes over contracts and other agreements are handled differently depending on the laws of each state. Lawyers in St. Joseph County know the laws of Indiana, 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

Most contracts have terms that will decide how a dispute is handled. These are often referred to as Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR clauses. These methods of resolution include Mediation and Arbitration, among others. 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. In St. Joseph County, Lawyers experienced in ADR can help if your business dispute is to be resolved out of court.