Commercial Litigation

What is Commercial Litigation?

Litigation is a dispute or judicial confrontation that leads to a trial. We can say that it is synonymous with a lawsuit or practice where the parties involved defend their positions. Billions of dollars are involved in commercial litigation. They can also be for smaller amounts. Regardless of size, most parties involved in commercial litigation will try to reach an agreement without resorting to legal procedures; however, commercial litigation is required to resolve the dispute when negotiations fail.

Commercial litigation arises from many disagreements, and the scope of this area of ​​law is considerably broad. Some of the most normal types of litigation include finance and investment, intellectual property, breach of fiduciary obligations, and insurance disputes. With a general idea about these commercial litigation categories, you will begin to understand what commercial litigation means and what kinds of legal issues you could deal with yourself.

There are three tiers of commercial litigation: Top-tier, Mid-tier, and Entry-tier.

Top-tier

On the top tier are the big banks and the top 100 ASX companies paying the mega law firms thousands of dollars per hour to engage in a veritable boxing match. It is highly important litigation as it often ends up before Courts of Appeal, if not the High Court of Australia. The decisions of these Superior Courts form the very heart of Australia’s doctrine of precedent, ‘judge-made’ law.

Mid-tier

On the next tier are the David and Goliath struggles. Again, the protagonists are often big banks and the top 100 ASX companies. The dramatis personae could also include the Australian Tax Office (ATO) or the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC)). Poor old Mr. Widget or Widget Pty Ltd really face the prospect of going to the wall. The mega law firms, for client Goliath, are ranged against much smaller firms, for the smaller client.

Surely the Goliath’s will do a cost/benefit analysis of funding each step of the litigation? Wrong. Disabuse yourself of this notion immediately. The Goliath’s have very deep pockets and implicitly understand that the contrary applies to Mr. Widget or Widget Pty Ltd. Put simply, it is a war of financial attrition. They go for broke – literally. To use a sporting analogy: who would you back in a Rugby international between the Springboks and Japan? (Well there was that 2015 Rugby World Cup upset).

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You will lose unless your lawyer can skillfully extricate you through alternative dispute resolution.

Entry-tier

This is Mr. Widget or Widget Pty Ltd verse Mr. Gadget or Gadget Pty Ltd in all levels of Courts but particularly inferior Courts of record such as Magistrates Courts, the District Court and tribunal such as QCAT.

How does commercial litigation work?

In procedural law, disputed points are all those aspects on which there is a controversy between the parties and concerning which the court must resolve.

Thus, when two opposing parties (for example, due to an inheritance, a divorce, a lawsuit, etc.) They go to a dispute seeking a judicial resolution. In this way, it will be the Judge who solves the conflict utilizing a sentence. However, before deciding to initiate a dispute, it is advisable to reflect on a prior agreement’s viability since the dispute’s outcome can have severe consequences for the parties (especially for the losing party).

The litigation process follows several steps. First, the plaintiff files a complaint to take a case to court. The defendant receives a summons. The subpoena notifies the defendant of the plaintiff’s action and sets a deadline for the response. The first part of litigation is the discovery process, where the parties collect records, documentation, and other pertinent information.

The court can set a trial at this time. Parties can file motions in court, which can be used for a variety of reasons. Some activities are procedural, which means that a party requests some aspect of the court process. Some motions are substantive and refer to specific facts or laws of the case. At the trial, the Judge or a jury decides by hearing the case. If the decision is contested by one of the parties for good reason, they can appeal the case to a higher court.

Sometimes parties prefer to resolve disputes outside of the courtroom. One option is arbitration. A referee listens to both sides of the conflict and makes a decision. Arbitration is a private process that never goes to court. Unlike commercial litigation lawyers in Brisbane by litigation, an arbitrator’s decision cannot be appealed.