By Dan Brookhart
As seen in January 2013 Edition of SPOKESMAN, a monthly publication of the Keystone Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors
Benjamin Franklin once said that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. With apologies to Mr. Franklin, a strong argument could be made for a third certainty; that being disputes in the construction industry. Construction claims and disputes are an all too common way of life for the contractor. These disputes run the gamut from change order disputes to performance issues and everything in between. Claims typically arise in many forms, usually involving some combination of contractors, subcontractors, vendors and customers.
An ongoing challenge for the contractor is how to resolve a dispute in a way that does not harm or greatly interfere with their business. While construction disputes are an inevitable problem for the contractor, there is way of resolving these disputes that minimizes any adverse effect on your company and ongoing business.
Mediation is a dispute resolution process designed to assist the parties in reaching an agreement of their conflict. As compared to traditional litigation, mediation can be effective because it is informal, private and confidential. Mediation enjoys an extremely high success rate at resolving disputes because it allows for a wider range of resolution options and keeps the parties in control of the outcome of a dispute (i.e., whether settlement is reached.)
In the construction industry, mediation that occurs early on in the dispute (“Early Mediation”) has additional benefits of significant cost savings, prompt and timely resolution and increased privacy as compared to traditional litigation. Mediation is less adversarial than litigation so there is a much greater chance at preserving ongoing business relationships which are important in the construction industry.
Join me on January 24, 2013 as I will be presenting a Webinar on “Avoid the Fight…Why Early Pre-Emptive Mediation Makes Cents.”
You will benefit from this Webinar by:
- Understanding the process and structure of mediation;
- Learning how and when mediation/early mediation can be effective in resolving disputes as an alternative to litigation;
- Learning about the significant economic and non-economic benefits of mediation to your company when faced with a dispute; and
- Learning how to make mediation your preferred method of dispute resolution.
If your company could benefit from a more effective means of resolving construction disputes and claims, please register for this Webinar.
Dan Brookhart, of Brookhart Law & Mediation, is an experienced civil trial attorney who provides full-time mediation and arbitration services in various areas of civil litigation including personal injury, business and commercial litigation, employment matters and construction disputes. He may be reached at 717-459-3948 or Dan@BrookhartMediation.com.