When a business relationship goes south, lawsuits are the natural consequence. Once a claim is made, more often than not, counterclaims follow and the lawsuit takes a life of its own. All-encompassing discovery demands are the norm and with the pervasive use of electronic storage of company records, specialists are often needed to control the e-discovery challenges. Some litigants are forced to spend over $100,000 on electronic record searches alone. In some cases, the costs of litigation quickly eclipses the value of the claim that was asserted and the hope of recovering attorney’s fees and costs are all that are driving the lawsuit.
Early mediation offers a cost effective alternative. The confidentiality of mediation allows the parties to privately compromise without being seen as weak. A settled resolution puts your company’s information technology specialists out of the litigation business and back into your business. Settlement puts your employees back on the path of productive activity. Statistics show that compliance with mediated agreements is greater than 90%, so you can have faith in the effectiveness of a mediated settlement agreement.
