The Legal System and ADR Analysis
LAW 531
October 1, 2013
The Legal System and ADR Analysis
There are various phases of the legal system that a business dispute must undergo before the dispute, or complaint, is resolved. These stages are commonly referred to as pretrial litigations, in which parties typically prefer to settle disputes within these pretrial stages to avoid costly legal fees. “The use of the court system to resolve business and other disputes can take years and cost thousands, or even millions, of dollars in legal fees and expenses” (Cheeseman, 2013, p. 52). Methods of nonjudicial dispute resolution, commonly referred to as alternative dispute resolution (ADR), are normally used to allow disputes to be resolved outside the court judicial system. The forms of ADR are negotiation, mediation, mini-trial, fact-finding, using a judicial referee, and arbitration, which is the most common method (Cheeseman, 2013). These forms of ADR can be applied to many different business disputes, in which some forms are more suitable to some cases than others. In regard to the case of City of Elsa v. Gonzalez, the legal process will be evaluated, the most appropriate ADR method to use will be recommended, and the differences cost benefits between traditional litigation and pursing ADR will be discussed.
The Legal Process
As stated above, there are various phases of the legal process that business disputes go through before a settlement has been reached. The first step of the legal process is to have the person or persons who believe they were wronged, the plaintiff, to file a claim, or suit against another party. The Supreme Court of Texas case of the City of Elsa versus Gonzalez the plaintiff's suit against the city was that he claimed he was unlawfully terminated from his position as city manager in violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act (Find Law for Legal Professional, 2010). In this case, the City of Elsa answered the complaint and appealed the...