Many 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 Dumfries, Virginia 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. Not all contracts have dispute resolution clauses, of course, and sometimes neither business has any documents relevant to the dispute at all. If that is the case, a court may be needed to resolve the dispute. In trying to discover the best resolution for two parties who have not agreed beforehand on a resolution, Virginia courts will use particular legal principles designed for the situation. Each state has different business laws about dispute resolution and contract law. An Attorney practicing in Dumfries can help you handle your dispute in accordance with the applicable Virginia laws. Resolution of the dispute may even be reached outside of court once an attorney's knowledge of the law smoothens negotiations between the two parties.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Contracts often have clauses 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. All forms of ADR are designed to reach the same decision a court would have, without needing to actually go to court. They carry their own sets of procedures and protocols, and they often involve a neutral third party listening to both sides of a dispute and making a determination based on local law. In Dumfries, Attorneys specialized in ADR can help if your business dispute is to be resolved out of court.