Construction Law & Ethics

O A

1. Is it good to go to court if you have a dispute?

Alternative dispute resolution has proven to be economical and time-saving when compare to the challenges of day to day running of court process. It is not advisory to go to court when a dispute arises between two or more parties. With prohibitive costs that may be out of reach of parties involve in resolving their dispute, going to court might not be able to settle disputes affordably. When a dispute is resolve through other methods without going to court adopting the methods of, negotiation, mediation and arbitration. These takes far less time to reach a final resolution than if the matters were to go to court. Going to court to settle dispute involving complicated and technical issues that are not understood by many people outside a relevant industry, a great deal of time has to be spent educating the judge and jury in order for them to make an informed decision thereby resulting in large time investment and money being spent.

Disputes should only be resolved through court where there is need to established precedent, where the outcome of the case could affect great number of people, when one parties want the issue to be publicized and finally where a power imbalance between the parties is so pronounced that it cannot be properly managed even by experienced mediator.

K H

2. What are there so many different court systems?

All states have different court systems. There is a process that needs to be done and that is why they are so many different court systems.

N S

3.  Not all disputes have to go to court, the option is available to participants. In fact most disputes never make it to court because both parties come to an agreement or the case ends up being dismissed by objection of one of the parties. 

T H

4. How can contractors know how to follow all of the complicated environmental and labor laws?

Contractors have many options in setting themselves up for success in following environmental and labor laws.  Larger companies will designate a permanent position to be in expert in the laws. Some may have their own attorney or human resources department.  Sometimes a “safety” can be responsible for many of the environmental laws.  For smaller contractors, they need to take it upon themselves to know all the ins and outs. Fortunately, when you only have a small team of five or so, it is not difficult to supervise the team conducting work. These laws should be reviewed per project they apply to.  Contractors can also join certain government organizations or other professional organizations to receive updated law newsletters or books.