This Memo Describes a Business Dispute on a State Level

This memo describes a business dispute on a state level where the state supreme court is the highest state court. Many disputes arise in businesses. Some disputes are filed in court whereas some cases are resolved outside of court, which is known as alternative dispute resolution. Disputes filed in court go through various legal phases in a state court system. These disputes last many years and cost a lot of money in fees and expenses. Cases resolved outside of court require individuals to resolve business disputes with alternative methods of dispute resolutions.

Here is an example of a common business dispute: A local graphic designer sues an organization because they refuse to pay him for having to re-designing the company t-shirts. In the defense of the organization, the company t-shirts were late and below the organization’s standard so the contract was broken and no payment is due. The dollar amount for the re-print of the company t-shirts totaled $2,500. If this dispute was filed in court, both parties will be able to present their side of the story to a small claims court.

Small claim courts are created to hear civil cases involving small dollar amounts (e.g., $5,000 or less). Evidence is introduced and testimony is give by both parties. Both parties must appear individually and cannot have lawyers represent them. Whichever party presented the most convincing written evidence, will have the advantage in the dispute. The decisions of small claims courts are often appealable to general-jurisdiction trial courts or appellate courts (Cheeseman, 2013, pg. 3).

Appealing to general-jurisdiction trial courts require testimony and evidence at trials from both parties to be recorded and stored for future reference, whereas appellate courts hear appeals from trial courts. Appellate courts review the trial court record to determine if any errors were present at a trial that would require reversal or modification of the trial court’s decision.