In Mississippi, business disputes commonly occur over a variety of different matters. Most often, businesses can disagree on the terms of contracts and prior arrangements. Property matters and billing issues also frequently form the basis of disputes between businesses.

What to Do in a Business Dispute?

If you are involved in a business dispute in Harrison County, Mississippi you should first review any relevant documents, including past and current contracts. These documents may contain clauses that dictate how and where you should handle a dispute. 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. Mississippi 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 particular case to discover the best resolution for all involved. The laws designed to settle contract disputes are different in each state. Attorneys practicing in Harrison County are versed in the contract law of Mississippi, and can help you to handle the dispute should it go to court. 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

Sometimes contracts themselves require that disputes under them be resolved outside of court. Methods of conflict resolution of this type 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 decide a dispute based on local law just as a judge would do. An attorney familiar with ADR in Harrison County can counsel you through the process if your business dispute is to be resolved by ADR.