5 Commercial Litigation Tips for the Professional Business

Commercial litigation refers to any legal action that is undertaken when businesses are in dispute with each other over a particular transaction. These issues typically arise when there are problems related to debt collection or there is a breach of contract, a misuse of intellectual property, an antitrust violation or disputes between stockholders.

Whatever the case may be, it is clear that commercial litigation can either be related to a small issue or a complex one, depending on the area in question.

Commercial litigation often involves multiple parties as well as large amounts of money. Most of these litigation issues require resolution of complex issues.

Commercial litigation may be related to a wide array of areas, such as intellectual property (IP), bankruptcy, antitrust issues, banking and financial transactions, real estate litigation and many more. The list is endless.

Here are five commercial litigation tips you should know:

1. You Don’t Need to Walk Alone

Don’t try to handle these issues on your own. You need the services of an experienced lawyer who has the know-how and the skill to deal with such issues. Allow your lawyer to guide you through the process as well as highlight the key decisions that need to be made so that you can proceed accordingly.

2. Is a Court Battle Necessary?

Commercial litigation can consume a lot of time and can also drag on for months (if not years). They can be frustrating and expensive. Therefore, if you can resolve such issues before taking them to court, it would be in the interest of all parties involved. The goal should be to have the dispute resolved and to avoid a court battle.

In order to achieve this, you could adopt a few of these tricks:

• Be more reasonable and try to maintain a good relationship with those disputing with you. Things can escalate much faster if you are reactive, aggressive or angry.

• Don’t pick fights over issues that are really not important. This can just destroy your professional relationships and is also a big waste of time.

• Always be professional. Keep emotions out of the mix and do not make any over-the-top statements.

3. Stop with the Threats Already

Do not threaten litigation unless and until that is your only course of action left. Lawsuits may be easy to file but are very difficult to sustain. You need to remember that such lawsuits can also backfire. Therefore, don’t make threats, take a deep breath and try to stay calm.

4. Search for a Solution if You’re at Fault

If you are at fault, it would be in your interest to admit it and then find a solution. Everybody makes mistakes and everybody fails once in a while. You should not make it an unnecessary battle and do not get stuck in litigation. If the accusation against you is correct, accept it, correct it and move on. That’s it.

5. An Overall Cost to Your Business

We all want to win the litigation battle.

But your concern, apart from resolving the issue, is not who wins or loses but how much cost you’re incurring with all this legal complication. All businesses cannot survive costly litigation.

Therefore, think about the overall cost to your business before jumping the gun and taking matters to court. Negotiate outside the court. Take the services of a good litigation lawyer who knows the art of resolving these things before they escalate into huge legal battles. This is especially true if you know your case is not that strong and if there is evidence that proves you may be involved in whatever you’re being accused of.