No one likes to spend money on litigation lawyers. If you would rather spend your money on developing your business instead of feeling anxious about a court case and your lawyers bills then these suggestions could help you avoid a legal wrangle altogether. It all starts with creating certainty in your business arrangements so that everyone involved understands their obligations and the consequences in the event of a breach. This means every business owner should think about the relationships that sit behind their business and carefully consider whether everyone involved in that chain from business partners right down to the customers understand how you do business.
- To create certainty set out in a clearly written document the contractual obligations and consequences in the event of breach with respect to your shareholders, business partners, employees, suppliers and your customers.
- Stay away from verbal/oral arrangements as it is almost certain that each party to the conversation will have a different understanding of what happened if any breaches of contract happen later on.
- Make sure you know who you are dealing with by identifying the person properly whether by their drivers licence or in the case of a company an ASIC search and keep a copy of the identification document in a physical folder and in digital form.
- Insist on having your contracts properly signed by the other party rather than providing goods or services based on someone’s say so.
- Your contractual arrangements need to specify when and under what circumstances payment needs to be made and keep clear records as you go.
- It is imperative for your employees to know that they cannot enter into contractual arrangements on your behalf unless they have permission from you and for this to be communicated to your customers.
- All your customers should be advised that employees are restricted from taking [large] cash payments without proper approval and any requests for cash payments are to be reported to management. Clearly some exceptions would apply e.g small retail purchases.
- Ascertain the scope of the authority of the person you are dealing with. It is possible that this person does not have the requisite authority.
- Where appropriate get independent legal advice about the document you are asked to sign since it may have serious consequences for you that you may not be aware of.
- Do what you can to de-escalate something that is shaping up to be a dispute since the involvement of lawyers and the justice system will increase costs substantially.
If for some reason a commercial litigation dispute is unavoidable and you find yourself being a reluctant participant whether as a plaintiff or perhaps as a defendant then seek legal advice about your rights. For commercial disputes and civil litigation we can explain the options available to you and how you might go about exercising your legal rights.
Talk to a Dispute Lawyer today!
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