Small businesses need to know where to pick their fights in court

Being at the receiving end of a lawsuit from an employee is never a good thing, which is why it's so difficult to decide which avenue to pursue when it comes to dispute resolution. Settle or take the case to court? Neither option will benefit a company's finances, but the decision involves a great deal of analysis.

The New York Times recently discussed this issue in a blog post focusing on whether it's worth the resources to reach litigation with the accuser and whether or not the company is at fault. The example that the post examined came from Jeffrey Herold of West Coast Trends, an American golf equipment company, who was taken to court by one of the company's employees. Instead of settling right away with the employee, Herold took the case to court, but eventually settled out of court after driving the settlement demand down to $10,000. The company also demanded the accuser to write a letter of apology that stated that the charges should never have been filed in the first place.

In the end, Herold admitted that his company's course of action, albeit effective in this case, is not always the best way to go, especially when a company is at fault in an incident. In some cases, companies should "just settle and get it over with," according to the Times blog post. 

Circumstances are different in every case and vary from company to company, but it's always important to remember that, even if the first reaction is to take the case to court or settle immediately, there may be another way work out the dispute.

However, there is no substitute for a proper business attorney, and local companies are strongly encouraged to seek out a Phoenix small business lawyer to protect them should any employee approach them with a lawsuit or other legal matter.

Categorised in: Business Law

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