Many different grounds can give rise to Business disputes in Washington. 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 Gig Harbor, Washington 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. However, the dispute might need to be taken to court if contracts do not have resolution clauses, or if there are no documents relevant to 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, Washington courts try to discover the best resolution by looking to the facts of the specific situation presented. There are laws specific to each state that govern how to approach dispute resolution. Lawyers practicing in Gig Harbor are best suited to offer advice in accordance with Washington law. Resolution of the dispute might even be reached outside of court once an attorney's knowledge of the law smoothens negotiations between the two parties.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Disagreements in contracts must often be resolved outside of court according to a dispute resolution clause. Methods of resolving a conflict outside of court are called Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR. These methods include Mediation, Arbitration and Collaboration. ADR eradicates the need to go to court, while attempting to reach the same resolution that a court would have. Different types of ADR involve their own procedures, however, and they often include a neutral third party making a decision based on local law. If your business dispute is to be resolved by ADR, an attorney experienced with these methods in Gig Harbor can counsel you throughout the process and develop the case you will present.