Often in the course of business, disputes arise between the parties to the transactions, which are then put on the agenda of court hearings. Litigation is time consuming, requires a lot of attention and a lot of money. Therefore, in recent years, businessmen have increasingly tried to avoid litigation by resorting to arbitration or mediation.
How can American courts displease participants in conflicts?
The fact that they are overwhelmed by the number of cases, as well as the fact that the dispute is resolved by a judge, who can only have a superficial idea of the professional or business sphere in which the conflict occurred. In addition, the duration of the resolution of the litigation deliberately dooms its participants to considerable expenses for the services of lawyers, and this is quite natural when it comes to long months of legal confrontation. As a result, the participants in the proceedings may wonder whether it was worth spending so much time and money if the decision did not pay off these costs. In this regard, many today are turning to alternative methods of dispute resolution – arbitration or mediation.
What is arbitration?
This concept is by no means new, but it means the following: the parties elect one or more arbitrators who hear the content of the dispute and make a decision as a result of special hearings. Arbitration is reminiscent of litigation in that it takes place under formal conditions, and in the fact that during the hearings sworn testimonies of the parties are given and physical evidence is considered. By the way, the arbitrator may refuse to accept this or that exhibit as evidence on the same grounds as an ordinary court.
The method for choosing an arbitrator may vary depending on the type of conflict and the location where the dispute originated. In addition, in the business contracts themselves, the parties often indicate that in the event of a dispute they will be resolved in arbitration, namely in accordance with the requirements of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitration association’s claims are regularly published, as are the lists of the names of officially registered arbitrators dealing with different types of disputes.
What are the main advantages and disadvantages of arbitration?
Unlike a regular court, an arbitrator is usually well aware of this area of the dispute, its procedures and rules. This avoids the need for expensive experts. At the same time, due to the highly formalized procedure of hearings, reminiscent of court hearings, the resolution of the dispute may not take place much faster than if the parties resorted to the ordinary court. In this regard, it is often necessary to seek help from a oakwood legal group injury atttorney, without which it is impossible to understand the details of the paperwork, but which will not be cheap. It is precisely considerations of cost savings that force us to look for another way of reconciliation or resolution of a dispute.
