Defining complex business litigation scenarios and navigating the maze.
Complex business litigation is exactly what it sounds like. And if it also brings to mind images of burning dollar bills, a disruption to your business, and potential damage to your sterling reputation, you wouldn’t be wrong. However, a qualified legal team and a sound strategy can help see you through it.
Defining “Complex” Business Disputes
This is where things can be a little tricky, because there is no hard and fast rule on what determines complexity. However, a few defining characteristics usually apply:
- Scope of resources. Meaning, how deep are the pockets on both sides of the aisle. When Apple and Samsung went after each other for patent violations, both giants had hundreds of millions of dollars to put behind the fight. This led to multiple filing motions, appeals, and a generally long and dragged out process where both sides tried to out maneuver the other. Conversely, if neither party has a lot of resources, you’ll eventually reach some sort of deal much quicker as the funds available to apply to the fight quickly run out.
- The stakes are HIGH. Hundreds of millions of dollars at stake? It’s probably going to be complex. This is slightly related to the definition above, but if there is the potential to earn a lot of money or control a lot of resources, the case is going to be complex.
- Multiple parties are involved. If all parties are aligned on a single side, with a single strategy (as would be the case with most class action suits) then even though the number of people is still high, the complexity level is low. However, if there are multiple parties involved and they do not align, or fall into disparate groups, then the resulting confusion and inefficiencies increases complexity by decreasing the ability to reach a settlement everyone can agree upon. In these instances, cases most often end up at trial to be sorted by the court.
Another way business litigation can be considered complex is if it touches on multiple areas or legal problems at the same time. A combination of any of the below areas might fit the bill:
- Contractual breaches
- Business-related torts
- Class action lawsuits
- Antitrust violations
- Employee disputes (age, wage, gender, disabilities, overtime, etc.)
- Securities and banking violations
- Whistleblower lawsuits (aka – False Claims Act or Qui Tam lawsuits)
- Healthcare fraud
- Business fraud and deceptive trade practices
- Product liability
- Professional liability
- Bankruptcy
- Intellectual property and patents
- Non-compete violations
- Non-disclosure violations
- Debt collection
- And more…
How you make it out of the maze depends on the details of each individual case, and the skill of the team you’ve hired.
In Need of Complex Business Litigation Advice?
What have you got to lose? If you have questions about the benefits of hiring an experienced attorney to handle complex business litigation, click to contact the Wilbanks Law Firm, P.C. online.