The Costs Of Protracted Litigation

By M David Halpern

The financial and emotional costs of litigation can unexpectedly and dramatically increase when you're facing an opponent intent on pursuing you legally. Even the best of business relationships can sour in the face of litigation, resulting in delays, expenses and increased aggravation for everyone involved.

Protracted litigation is often an attempt by one party to delay and stall the legal process, ultimately causing the other party to simply give up and walk away. In this way, the legal system is used as a tool to threaten another party who might not be as well funded as his or her opponent. In typical litigation, discovery can be a lengthy process with a great deal of time needed to collect and analyze documents. Using mediation, however, results in less time spent in discovery, reducing the burden for everyone and speeding up the procedure tremendously.

Of course, the costs of obtaining and working with an attorney during typical litigation can be very expensive for an individual. Continued litigation only generates more work- and more billable hours, crippling you financially. There are additional costs associated with protracted litigation, however. Even if your case is successful, the opportunity cost of waiting for those funds to be released to you can generate headaches, irritation and even anxiety. The mediation process, on the other hand, tends to take much less time and generates a result more quickly. Setting aside time to collect, review and discuss information with your attorney on a regular basis, in addition to attending courtroom hearings, can take away from your business and personal schedule, too.

Just getting on the court schedule can be a slow procedure, since it can take up to a year to receive an initial date. Mediation, on the other hand, is much easier to organize and begin. When individual parties play a greater role in determining a mutual agreement, the satisfaction with the outcome tends to be greater, too. The agreements are just as comprehensive, if not more so, as what might result from a litigated case. While litigation tends to increase the tension between disputing parties, mediation allows for an effective and efficient solution that does less damage to the relationship overall.

Given the many advantages to mediation, protracted litigation is less and less appealing to individuals today. Mediation affords an opportunity for a full consideration of the case with outcomes that are generated in part by the disputing persons themselves, at a lower cost and faster completion rate than traditional litigation means.

If you need help in deciding if your situation can be best resolved through mediation, contact M. David Halpern 814-940-1565 and talk to him about your concerns. David practices mediation and arbitration of commercial, labor, personal injury and medical malpractice issues, both privately and for the court systems. Visit http://www.halpernmediation.com for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M_David_Halpern