What can business owners do to avoid litigation? (PART 1)

‘Litigation’ can be a scary word for a business owner. We do our best to do everything we can to satisfy our customers and make strong lasting relationships with our business partners. Even after years of successful relationships, a business could one day face a dispute. Granted, not every dispute ends up in litigation, but once in a while, things can come to that when absolutely necessary.

So how can a business owner avoid litigation? Well, there isn’t really a way to avoid it altogether, but there are ways that a business owner could make litigation less likely. First and foremost, communication is any relationship, business or otherwise, is key. If the lines of communication are not open, small issues can quickly escalate into huge issues. Both sides of the dispute need to clearly draft and read all documents, letters and contracts. Even missed emails can lead to misunderstanding between business owners.

It’s also important to have the lines of communication open within your business. If your employees or partners are too afraid to bring up potential risks, those issues may not be caught until it’s too late. It can be wise to have a procedure in place for reporting potential risks and evaluating them so that they can quickly be dealt with. This may mean having specific procedures when it comes to who is in charge of these evaluations and how to identify and interview potential witnesses.

In our next post, we will continue discussing how a business owner can handle potential disputes without letting them escalate into the courtroom.