Commercial Law

One of the fundamental freedoms we enjoy as Americans is the ability to choose.   Each day, we choose between different places to eat, what type of gas we put in our automobiles and the various products and services we use.   We are free to choose who we enter agreements with and under what terms.    Each day, we enter into all kinds of agreements as we go about our lives in which an unspoken trust in one’s words, written or otherwise, being a bond that creates a harmonious order to each exchange.

In a perfect world, each party gets the benefit of the bargain.   Invariably, disputes arise as to these agreements and contracts.  What happens when all doesn’t go as planned and when one party fails to uphold their promise without reasonable or justifiable excuse?   While there are a number of ways disputes can be resolved, one of them is to file a lawsuit in civil court.   Generally, each “civil lawsuit” can be characterized under the term “Commercial Litigation.”   Even disputes between two private citizens.  Commercial Litigation is the process wherein claims are defined, information is exchanged between the parties, motions are filed relative to legal questions arising throughout the dispute and, ultimately, a civil trial is conducted.   This process is governed by various rules of procedure, evidence and other statutes.

We believe that litigation is an art, not a science.   It is strategic in nature and dreadfully slow in most instances.    However, since there is no magic wand that automatically makes the non-breaching party whole again, the filing of a civil lawsuit is, many times, a necessary step to recover damages in the form of money or property.   In fact, millions of contracts are breached every day where no one speaks up or complains.

No matter how thin you slice the loaf of bread, there are always two sides to every story.   Litigation’s purpose is to filter the facts through law so that justice can be done.  Justice and truth are not synonymous.  Justice relates to the application of the due process of law which provides for a fair opportunity to be heard.   This simply means that the procedural rules of litigation are afforded to a party during the litigation process.   In a nutshell, every civil case has essentially the same components which are the filing of a complaint, an answer by the defendant, discovery (or information exchange) and trial.