There are several grounds that can lead to business disputes in Maine. 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 involved in a business dispute in Waterville, Maine, reviewing any relevant documents, especially contracts, should be the first step. These documents might decide how the dispute will be resolved. 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. 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, Maine courts try to discover the best resolution by looking to the facts of the specific situation presented. Each state has different business laws about dispute resolution and contract law. An Lawyer practicing in Waterville can help you handle your dispute in accordance with the applicable Maine laws. Negotiations might also proceed more smoothly when an attorney is consulted, which may even lead to a resolution outside of court.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Contracts often have terms requiring that a dispute be handled outside of court. This is called Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR, and it includes 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 Waterville, Lawyers practiced in ADR can help if your business dispute is to be resolved out of court.