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The Legal System and Adr

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The Legal System and ADR
University of Phoenix
Law531

Michael Meeusen

The Legal System and ADR
Traditional litigation and ADR are two different ways to resolve a legal dispute. The use of traditional litigation takes you through a costly and lengthy trial before a judge and sometimes a jury. Whereas, ADR, also known as alternative dispute resolution, is a method of resolving legal dispute without going to trial. In the case of Rainy vs. Domino’s pizza, LLC traditional litigation was used but using ADR in the case may have been the better way to go.
In the state court system this case would begin by the plaintiff, Paul Rainy filing a complaint. Then Domino’s pizza, LLC has to file an answer to the plaintiff’s case, which in this case they deny being vicariously liable for the plaintiffs’ injuries. The discovery process is the next step to state court system. At this point both parties will engage in activities to discover the facts of the case from all parties’ involved as well as witnesses (Cheeseman, 2013, p. 45). A deposition is one of many examples of discovery that can be used to provide detail in a legal dispute. In terms of a deposition a witness or party gives testimony pretrial, under oath, to be used as evidence during the actual trial. In the state court system the last step used before actually going to trial is a pretrial hearing or settlement conference (Cheeseman, 2013, p. 47). In this pretrial hearing both parties try to facilitate a settlement before the trial to prevent having an all out trial in court. After the pretrial hearing comes the actual trial, which includes jury selection, opening statements from the lawyers on both sides, the plaintiff as well as the defendant’s case, closing arguments and then the verdict from the jury. The litigation system is a very costly and lengthy way to go in terms of a legal dispute. There are court cost to think about, lawyer fees, and also time missed from work to attend the trial. Both parties involved have to think about these issues of litigation before deciding to go to court. With a larger company like Dominos pizza it would be in there best interest not to take a case like this one to court because they don’t want the negative publicity of a lengthy drawn out court case.
Alternative dispute resolution or ADR would be the alternate avenue to take instead of litigation. Negations, arbitration, mediation, mini-trial, fact-finding and using a judicial referee are just a few of the types of ADR available for legal disputes (Cheeseman, 2013, p. 52). With a larger company like Dominos pizza arbitration would be the better choice for this legal dispute to keep the negative publicity at a low. An arbitrator would be chosen as a third party to hear testimony and decide on the case. Using an arbitrator is very similar to going to trial without the publicity, cost and inconvenience. The arbitrator will listen to testimony and witnesses on both sides of the complaint, similar to a judge in litigation. After the evidence is presented the arbitrator will make a decision on the dispute. If both parties are unhappy with the decision they can appeal it and take it through the litigation system. Using arbitration in this case would be the best alternative dispute resolution for the plaintiff as well. It would help keep the cost of the dispute at a minimum since the plaintiff is unsure of the outcome of litigation. If the plaintiff Rainy takes the dispute to court and loses then he still must pay court fees, lawyer fees, and he will miss out on income from missed work days.
In brief, alternative dispute resolution is put in place of litigation for many reasons. Both parties in a legal dispute can benefit from using ADR in place of litigation. Cost, time and uncertainties are just a few of those reason’s to consider using ADR over litigation. All parties involved should consider ADR as their first step in resolving a legal dispute.

References
Cheeseman, H. R. (2013). Business Law: Legal Environment, Online Commerce, Business Ethics, and International Issues (8th ed.). [etextbooks]. Retrieved from http://www.coursesmart.com

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