Attorney: Small businesses should focus on quick dispute resolution

Large corporations invest significant time and resources designating contractual remedies for disputes that may arise. These remedies are often buried in agreements generally ignored by the consumer, who has little choice but to agree.

For instance, many publicly traded companies require binding arbitration on an individualized basis to resolve disputes and often select a forum convenient for their purposes. The cruise industry, for example, requires most consumer claims be brought in federal court in the Southern District of Florida.

By contrast, many small businesses do not have the time or resources to consider how to address dispute resolution at a large scale, focused instead on business operations and without an on-hand attorney to advise. Moreover, negotiating a dispute resolution clause is often prohibitive for smaller transactions, and many small claims disputes are often dropped if they cannot be resolved.