Are you searching for proven, experienced San Diego business litigation and dispute attorneys? How are business disputes and business litigation actually handled here in California?
Key Takeaways About What to Look For in Experienced San Diego Business Litigation and Dispute Attorneys:
- Most business disputes and lawsuits are resolved long before they ever reach a California Court or Trial.
- The chronology of events and a mastery of available damages are the keys to any San Diego business dispute or litigation matter.
- Look for attorneys with decades of experience, and a proven track record of success when representing clients in similar matters to the one you presently face
The Most Important Thing To Know About a Business to Business Lawsuit
What is the most important piece of information about a business to business lawsuit? After almost four decades of resolving San Diego litigation, business disputes and lawsuits across the State of California, the simple fact is this:
Most business lawsuits and disputes are resolved long before they ever reach the Courtroom.
Why is this? The cost of protracted litigation and the time required to get a case before a California Judge (much more than a year) is enough to drive most cases to seek a another form of resolution.
The Key to any Commercial Dispute or Business Litigation
What can the experienced San Diego business litigation and dispute attorneys at the Watkins Firm share with you about any business-to-business dispute or breach of contract matter? The Watkins Firm brings over 40+ years of experience serving the business, science and tech, real estate and medical / healthcare communities here in San Diego and across California. The key to any commercial or contract dispute, or business litigation locally and throughout California is a thorough, well-documented chronology of events, and a mastery of the damages associated with the dispute. Business litigation is all about the facts and financial damages. The Court will not order a party to take specific action and cannot compel them to fulfill the original “benefit of the bargain” (with rare exception, usually in a matter involving real estate). Your case will come down to financial damages one way or another. This is why a thorough chronology and a mastery of the damages are the keys to gain the attention of opposing parties and draw them into negotiations. Reducing exposure to damages is a central issue in any defensive posture.
Watkins Firm is able to resolve the vast majority of our business-to-business disputes and lawsuits through effective, leveraged negotiation. This is the fastest, and least expensive path to resolve any dispute or breach of contract.
Our Unique Approach to Disputes
If you are searching for proven, experienced San Diego business litigation and dispute attorneys, the Watkins Firm has a strong track record of success developing strategies designed to get the transaction or relationship back on track and moving toward a successful and profitable resolution. When a transaction or relationship cannot be completed as anticipated, we work to develop an effective settlement which reflects our client’s goals and objectives. If leveraged negotiations are not able to resolve every aspect in dispute, a lawsuit is usually filed by one of the parties. The Watkins Firm is prepared to represent you in any legal venue required to accomplish the task. This includes settlement conferences, mediation, arbitration, and at trial.
Mediation is a private, confidential legal venue which keeps our clients private matters out of the public record while working toward a positive settlement. Arbitration is often specified as an alternative to trial in many business contracts. We represent our clients throughout negotiations, mediation and arbitration while seeking a positive resolution on our client’s behalf.
Pro-Tip: “We know how to resolve a business to business lawsuit. We handle these matters all the time. We are able to resolve most matters through effective, leveraged negotiation. If not, the next opportunity is the settlement conference, or mediation. What happens in mediation?
The parties agree upon the mediator, and you bring in former superior court, judge Jones, and he’s looking at us, the lawyers, and he knows the difference between genuine issues and posturing when he sees it. So he’s going to have some control in controlling the lawyers from over-valuing this dispute and from over-posturing, just being aggressive for this sake of impressing their clients. And he’s going to go back and forth and have the purpose of settlement on his mind, which is what we both want. And a lot of times here’s the thing: they often don’t immediately settle. I’d say 50% of our cases don’t settle at mediation, but after a good mediation a month or two later, it’ll settle because of the mediation. Some mediators actually call us a month after when we came so close and say, ‘Dan, what can I do? Do you want me to call the other side?’ I’ll say, ‘yeah, good idea. Call the other side.’ And then he’ll call the other side. And they’ll their clients have calmed down. They’re relaxed and we’ll settle. We have to get to that 95% somehow. So there’s a lot of different ways using the ADR formulas, using them to your benefit. Understanding them gives you the best result in 95% of the cases, which is how they resolve.
Arbitration is when you have an agreement in your contract that says, I’m going to resolve this by arbitration and it’s usually quicker and cheaper, but you waive the right to a jury trial and the arbitrator himself can be very expensive. But in the long run, waiting to go to trial for two and a half years and waiting for a judge who has an overburdened docket can be just as risky. So arbitrations are great. They cut to the chase and you really don’t have a lot of time for dramatics. You have to have accurate law and facts when you go in and it’s usually decided by your arbitration brief because the judge knows when he sees a case that has no merit or has great merit.
And generally it keeps crazy verdicts from happening because if you win, you’re going to get something reasonable. And if you lose, it’s going to be something reasonable. Their goal is to try to be reasonable. They’ve seen crazy jury verdicts their whole life from time to time. And so, and they know the law on the facts. So normally I would expect, you know, a very reasonable sound fair resolution when I go to an arbitrator. The arbitrator makes a decision. The decision is final. There’s no appeal. And unlike a trial, it’s just over.
And, because we start with a thorough chronology, mastery of the damages, and all of our philosophies on how to prepare a case, we’re ready to go to trial. And we’ve tried lots of cases. If it’s a trial, we really enjoy jury trials. If it’s arbitration, we’ve been around so long, we’re comfortable with the arbitrators. And then jury trials, we’ve tried so many jury trials that we really feel comfortable picking a jury going through the jury selection process. Our whole team knows how to get all the exhibits ready, comply with all the court, local rules, having everything professional and laid out, having expert witnesses, ready to go. You put on a show, we enjoy doing it. We don’t think we should have to do it that much. We’d rather settle. But when we go to trial, we like getting that big jury verdict. It’s just wonderful.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner
Almost Four Decades of Experience in San Diego Business Litigation and Disputes
Are you searching for proven, experienced San Diego business litigation and dispute attorneys? The Watkins Firm brings almost four decades of experience in San Diego and California business litigation and disputes to strengthen your position and ultimately resolve the issue(s) at hand. You have the confidence of knowing that our attorneys are prepared to represent you in every phase of the dispute with a strong, proven track record of success in San Diego business dispute and litigation-related matters. We invite you to review our podcast Episode 12 – Resolving a Business Dispute (part 2) as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.
