At some point if you are in business you are going to run into disputes, whether those are with partners, employees, suppliers, or the like. While most commercial relationships work out fine, a good number of them run into problems. The court process is a very expensive, time-consuming, and unsatisfying experience. Most often, neither party is satisfied with the decisions despite spending an excess of money and time on lawyers and experts. Business mediation at Positive Law, LLC offers a better way.
Positive Law, LLC offers skilled and experienced commercial mediation services to businesses, cooperatives, organizations, and government entities. We provide both in person and online (virtual) business mediation in Cuyahoga and Lake County, and online to businesses throughout Ohio and beyond.
What is Business (or Commercial) Mediation?
Business mediation is a process where a neutral third party helps guide parties through a process to a mutually satisfying resolution. The process allows each side to be heard and explore options. Through identifying issues, facilitating discussions, questioning positions and assumptions, and analyzing data, a mediator helps guide parties to solutions that work best for them.
Business mediators are not judges or arbitrators. Mediators do not make decisions for the parties. The parties make decisions for themselves and always retain the right to agree or disagree to various elements. Business mediators do not give legal advice, but the parties may seek legal advice.
What Are the Advantages to Using a Business Mediator?
Business mediation offers many advantages in resolving business conflict to the more traditional way of litigation:
- Control of the outcomes remains in the parties’ hands, versus the hands of a jury and/or judge
- Mediation is confidential. The process of mediation is confidential, whereas documents filed with the court go in the public record and are open to court scrutiny
- The parties agree to an outcome versus one being imposed by a jury, judge or arbitrator.
- Business mediation is far less expensive than litigating, given the costs of attorneys, filings, depositions, trial preparation and the trial itself.
- Mediation is collaborative and can generate creative solutions and mend broken relationships, whereas litigation is adversarial and tends towards formulaic solutions, which may not work well for the parties
- Mediation results in quicker resolutions, allowing parties to go on with their lives. Mediation can take as little as a few hours, versus months or years in litigation
- Mediated settlements are always fair and reasonable since all parties have voluntarily agreed to them. No rights are lost by going through mediation. Litigation is still available to you if no agreement is reached.
What Types of Business Disputes Can Be mediated?
Just about any business issue can be mediated, but here’s a list of the types of matters commonly resolved:
- Contract or transactional issues
- Consumer and customer claims
- Consumer Fraud Act claims
- Unpaid bills, book account, account stated, unfinished work
- Labor or employment
- Discrimination, hostile work environment and harassment
- Union contracts and impasses
- Union grievances and unfair labor practice claims
- Employee-manager workplace disputes
- Partnership agreements and dissolutions
- Commercial construction
- Torts (civil wrongs)
- Negligence
- Fraud
- Infliction of Emotional Distress
- Defamation (libel, slander)
- Tortious interference
- Anti-trust
- Professional fees disputes
- Technology and Intellectual Property
- Real estate
- Sales
- Insurance
- Liability (all types)
- Tax
If you have a business or employee dispute, please contact Positive Law, LLC at 1-800-806-1803 or email us here or at info@positivelaw.co. We are pleased to meet with you online (virtually) to discuss your business mediation matter.