What do you need to know about resolving a business dispute in San Diego and throughout California quickly and cost-effectively?  Business disputes and lawsuits are usually the result of gaps in the contract governing the transaction or relationship at hand.  When legal contracts are well crafted, the language of the contract clearly establishes all aspects of the transaction or relationship, and how to handle things that don’t go as expected.  If a dispute arises, the contract should clearly establish the process for resolving the dispute, while continuing the momentum of the work being performed.

3 Key Takeaways to Resolving a Business Dispute in California:

• At their core, most business disputes are rooted in a contractual issue, and the focus of the dispute is money.
• Each party has responsibilities, especially when the business dispute involves a potential (or actual) breach of contract.
• Look for an attorney or law firm with extensive experience resolving a business dispute quickly, and in a cost-efficient manner, while protecting their client’s goals and objectives.

Business Disputes Often Go Back to the Underlying Contract

Does it surprise you to learn business disputes of go back to the underlying contract?  Breach of contract is one of the most common business disputes and lawsuits.  These cases come down to financial damages, based upon the cause of the breach and the terms of the underlying contract.

Many disputes are unfortunately based upon areas in a contract that are unclear – allowing for various interpretations according to the perspective of the parties involved.  For example, when inexperienced business owners and entrepreneurs attempt to save a few dollars by downloading a boilerplate contract (or finding one on the web and attempting to alter it) they open themselves to disputes and lawsuits.

California has its own unique laws and is one of the most progressive states in the union.  When contracts fail to incorporate appropriate legal and descriptive language it provides gaps in the agreement that easily lend themselves to the development of a dispute.  Legally speaking, when a contract is “mute” on a point the disagreement must be argued before a neutral party or judge.  The judge must attempt to “reconstruct” the original intent and actual agreement of the parties before issuing a ruling.  This is quite time-consuming and expensive for all parties involved.

This is why the Watkins Firm draws on our proprietary, battle-tested library of contract developed over our 40+ years of experience serving the business, science and tech, real estate and medical / healthcare communities here in San Diego and across California.  We start with a proven contract that has worked in several similar transactions, and custom-tailor it to fit our client’s unique specifications.  This reduces the likelihood of a breach and the time and expense resolving a business dispute here in San Diego and Across California.

Pro-Tip: ” We handle this from both sides, from the drafting of the agreements to the actual disputes. And one thing we’ve talked about is power and leverage. So if you don’t have a strong agreement and it’s just you and somebody else with a bland agreement, then the party with more power, more resources, the ability to fight can turn around and argue that the agreements you may have give them more rights and power. For example, you are just a shareholder investor and you don’t have that much money and you don’t have a strong agreement, the person in charge can say, well, I’m an officer now. And I award myself a million dollar a year salary, because I’m that great? And what do you do? You didn’t cover that early and you need a good lawyer to cover that later because it’s going to be a fight.

Everybody writes their contracts differently and there’s laws on every type of contract in the state of California, as far as how to interpret that. And sometimes people write contracts that are at conflict with the law. Some of the clauses may be unenforceable and even some judges may read them differently, and it never matters really unless there’s a lot of money at stake, right? That’s when everybody goes back, when they get that big contract, where all of a sudden your company’s going to be making triple what it did, then they go back and look at their partnership agreements. So if something like that happens, go see an experienced business lawyer who won’t just say, ‘you need to file a lawsuit’ who can try to negotiate some kind of resolution and see if you’re getting the benefit of the bargain and try to work it out.

We want to get the facts down and we want the evidence they have in chronological order, because that’s the best way to communicate to the other party to a third party, to anyone is in chronological order. That’s how we think. Then I want to help our clients analyze the damages. Whether you are feeling like they owe you something, they’re not complying with the agreement or vice versa. So then, I want to want something more from, I want to help you analyze the damages, analyze what it’s going to cost to fight.  And also look at the future business. Whether we can salvage this relationship, all of those important things should come into play, so that we are able to give good advice.

Knowing the facts, the damages, the law of the damages is key, because that gives your lawyer the ability to predict what would happen if you went to trial tomorrow and you won, what would you win? That’s it, that’s the number. Because in civil court, we’re only looking at dollar amounts and getting there and understanding human nature. That’s another thing, right? Preparation for my clients has to do with damages, the law and damages and the facts, getting all the facts down, and then informing my client.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

Resolving a Business Dispute in San Diego or Anywhere in California

Resolving a business dispute in San Diego or anywhere in California requires experience, legal skill and leveraged negotiation based upon a strong chronology of events and a mastery of associated damages.  The attorneys at the Watkins Firm have more than four decades of experience resolving business and legal disputes here in San Diego.  We have a unique approach to legal disputes that helps to resolve them as quickly as possible and with the minimum of expense.

We work quickly to understand our client’s goals and objectives, and to establish the facts surrounding the core issues of the dispute.  We work to establish damages, and this provides necessary leverage to gain the undivided attention and cooperation of the other party.  We respect the nature of the relationship between the parties and understand that resolving your business dispute in San Diego is more than just helping to find a legal solution – it often involves work to repair the underlying relationships as well.

If you are interested in resolving a legal dispute in San Diego we invite you to review our podcast Episode 11 – Resolving Business Disputes as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.