There are some basic rules for a small business in North Carolina to follow in order to avoid business disputes and breach of contract actions. It’s best to avoid litigation and business disputes generally, due to the time factor, the stress factor and the resources factor. All three areas are severely taxed when a dispute turns so sour that it must be litigated.
The first rule is to put all business agreements in writing. All kinds of disagreements and misinterpretations will result when parties try to remember the terms of an oral agreement. The guiding light of a written contract gets rid of a broad spectrum of potential disputes right off the bat.
It certainly helps for a business owner to understand the nature of the contract before signing it. For most significant agreements, a company will likely have legal assistance, so that it becomes easy to discuss the terms with the company’s counsel. Only by questioning the meaning of certain terms can the party go into the agreement with a full appreciation of the meaning and consequences of what is involved.
Parties to a contract will do quite a bit better if they are in regular communication about performance issues as they arise. This ‘talking it out’ and a cooperative effort to keep the situation on an even keel can protect the company from losing substantial resources and energy caused by a critical breach of contract that must be sent to court. In fact, there’s nothing the matter with compromise in business matters.
Effective legal counsel will always look to defuse business disputes for the long-range good of the client. It’s a quality of effective management to be able to see the other side’s point of view, and to at least appreciate the importance to the other party of its own needs in the relationship. On the other hand, counsel in North Carolina will recommend swift and aggressive action when the other party is acting unethically, illegally or destructively in its performance of the contract.
Source: nevadabusiness.com, “Five Ways to Avoid Litigation“, Michael Feder, Nov. 1, 2014