If you have a dispute with a business customer, partner or supplier, you may have to decide whether or not to file a suit in court. In general if your dispute is with someone in your own state, you might select state litigation. If the dispute is with someone from another state, federal litigation.
1
Can you settle the dispute?
The other person or company may be amenable to negotiation. That way you avoid court courts and legal fees. If you can't work it out, then you might decide to hire a lawyer and go to court. If the dispute is for a small amount of money, it might be better to represent yourself. Each state has the equivalent of city court, small claims, minor disputes and major ones. You need to know what the dollar sum is before you select a court. The larger the dispute or the more complicated it is, the more sense it makes to hire a lawyer. Remember hiring a lawyer means you pay the legal fees and costs of experts. The other side is rarely ordered to pay your expenses in litigation.
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Lawyer or Not
Selecting a lawyer familiar with commercial litigation is a formidable task. You can check with other businesses about who they use; you can also check with the county bar association to find out what lawyers in your local area do commercial litigation. For some disputes it is far less expensive to do it yourself. Other matters require a lawyer. Some states will not permit corporate entitites to represent themselves pro se.
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Federal or State Court
If your target is from another state, you have to decide if you will sue in that person's state or in your own, or in federal court. Federal court requires diversity of citizenship (all of the parties must be from different states) and that the dispute exceeds $150,000. Your own state may be the easiest for you, but collection action in another state are sometimes easier if you have local court orders and a local attorney helping you. In some cases you might want a home state lawyer and an out of state one.
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What is the argument about?
The most common business argument is breach of contract. Someone failed to follow through on a promise. It could be as simple as not paying a bill, or it could be poor workmanship, or even misrepresentation of what someone's goods or service can do for you. In many states, unless fraud is involved, such business disputes are done before a judge only court (no jury). Disputes can also be two sided, one party may claim they were cheated, and the other party make the same charge. For example, a supplier may demand $20,000 for a delivery while the recipient counterclaims that the product was shoddy and cost them loss of customers, etc.
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What has to be done?
Your lawyer will need to see the relevant documents, such as contracts or proposals. The most difficult suits to litigate are those where the parties have an "oral" agreement and expect the court to enforce it, and the two parties have completely different recollections of what was promised.
Court procedure normally includes an exchange of written questions and answers (interrogatories) and depositions (question and answer sessions before a court reporter --the questions are asked by the attorney for the other side, and then the attorney for the witness may ask cross questions ). Then the matter may go to arbitration and/or mediation to avoid a trial.
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