30 Apr 2020Multiple factors can influence a person to resolve a dispute
Do you have an ongoing legal dispute that you just can’t settle? Now might the time to make another attempt to reach a negotiated agreement.
In the face of COVID-19, everyone is suffering in one way or another. It might be financial, it might be mental or physical health, or it might be due to having too much or too little time in the day.
It could be that the person does not want the matter hanging over their head along with everything else at the moment, or it could be that they are worried their financial position will change and they won’t be able to move forward with litigation during the coronavirus pandemic.
All of these factors are likely to help a person come to a decision to settle a dispute.
Other side is currently more likely to be receptive to a reasonable offer
For example, in a family law matter, usually the parties commence negotiations between their lawyers in an attempt to come to an agreement which can be recorded in consent orders and filed in the court.
If you are at this stage of your legal dispute, putting forward a reasonable offer in the current circumstances is more likely to encourage the other party to agree, or at least to compromise in a way they may not have done before COVID-19.
We are all much more grateful for our lives at the moment and – those of us lucky enough to be still employed – for our jobs, and sentimentally, we don’t want to waste our lives arguing.
Delays in court schedules may encourage people to compromise
In a commercial matter, you may have already commenced proceedings, where court hearings have been adjourned due to coronavirus. You may have been waiting your turn to have your hearing for the last year or two, and have now been told you have to wait another 12 months before you have your hearing.
Now is the right time to speak with your lawyer about putting a reasonable offer to the other side to reach a negotiated agreement.
In a recent matter, we were able to settle a family provision claim, on the basis that any hearing was likely to be pushed back to next year, and the parties were not willing to wait and endure stress for that long in order to find out a judge’s decision.
Straitened financial circumstances may encourage realistic negotiation
In a family law matter, where parties had been negotiating back and forth for over a year, they realised that their superannuation policies have drastically been affected by the current financial market.
This has caused good quality offers to start being made in a spirit of compromise between the parties.
Now is a good time to reach a negotiated agreement
Nobody wants a legal dispute hanging over their head. Anxiety about the possibility of losing a court case is not good for our mental health, especially when coupled with worry about job security and physical health.
Whatever the reason, because of the upheaval in people’s lives due to coronavirus, now is a good time to reassess your case, remake a previous offer, or make a new offer, and finally reach a negotiated agreement to settle your dispute.
