Litigation cases can get complicated with old contracts

On Behalf of | Nov 13, 2020 | Business Disputes |

Many Pennsylvania companies change officials over time, and claims of breach regarding older contracts can complicate matters significantly when a resolution is needed. Not only are the original contracting agents not at the company, but new officials may not have been completely informed in the transition. When a legal action is filed in this situation, defending company managers are often blindsided. These cases are often difficult to resolve, and it commonly takes negotiation with experienced professional business litigators to arrive at a case settlement.

One of these kinds of contract disputes happened in a Pennsylvania city when a business development company entered into a contract to have a building constructed in a Neighborhood Improvement Zone with a fiber and data provider agreeing to reimburse the tax credits for the project. The communications company subsequently did not make the payments during a time period where one management official passed away and the others resigned.

This left the primary investor no option but to file litigation over the matter, which resulted in a court award for the reimbursement. All of the issues may have possibly been avoided with legal representation and alternate dispute resolution such as mediation negotiation. An arbitration hearing might have produced the same court order.

Business tort litigators may handle contract disputes through alternate dispute resolution, and mediation in particular is often used because the parameters of the dispute can be discussed in informal settings with no public knowledge of what transpired in the case other than the final agreement. This is effective because it protects all parties to the dispute if they continue doing business after case settlement. If a business owner is involved in a contract dispute, an attorney may explain to them their legal options.