Several different grounds can give rise to Business disputes in Virginia. Often, businesses will disagree over the exact meaning of terms found in contracts or prior oral agreements. Billing issues and property matters also commonly form grounds for disagreements between businesses.

What to Do in a Business Dispute?

If you are involved in a business dispute in Bedford, Virginia 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. 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. Virginia 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 Bedford know the laws of Virginia, and can offer individualized advice for those involved in business disputes. 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 might even enable you to resolve the dispute without going to 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. If ADR is to be used in resolving your dispute, an attorney in Bedford familiar with ADR procedures can help you develop your case.