Escalating a business dispute
Instruct a solicitor
Depending on the value and complexity of the dispute, you may want to instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf. If the claim is worth £10,000 or less you may want to issue a claim with the small claims Court yourself. The small claims track is designed to be used by businesses and individuals without the need to instruct legal representatives. The general rule on costs in the small claims track is that you cannot recover your legal costs, even if you are successful in your claim.
If the dispute is complex and of significant value, you may want to seek legal advice. We will firstly, review all correspondence and documents between the parties and advise you on the merits of the claim. If we are instructed to proceed to the next step, we will write a pre-action protocol letter, which sets out:
- Summary of the facts
- The basis of the claim; and
- The desired outcome
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
ADR is a form of resolution that avoids the need to go to Court. Parties are encouraged to attempt to settle their dispute before issuing any Court proceedings. There are several alternative ways in which to try and resolve a dispute.
In some cases, there may be a clause in a contract that asks parties to engage in ADR in the first instance and may stipulate the type of ADR that should be followed.
If there is no contractual obligation, the parties may agree between themselves to try a form of ADR. These include:
- Mediation – negotiation assisted by an independent third party.
- Arbitration – formal process which leads to a decision that is binding and enforceable on the parties.
- Adjudication – third party provides a decision on the dispute which is usually binding pending a reference to the Court for final determination.
If ADR is not successful and the dispute is not resolved, the next step is to consider issuing Court proceedings.
How can Nelsons help?
Anika Zahid is an Associate in our Dispute Resolution team, specialising in commercial litigation and professional negligence claims.
This is not an exhaustive list of costs and funding options in business disputes, if you would like advice in relation to the points raised in this article, please contact Anika or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
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