There are a number of factors that can give rise to a dispute in any business, and a dental practice is not immune to any of them. Furthermore, there are some potential areas of conflict that are quite common amongst dental practitioners and we are going to explore some of them in this article.
Disputes Between Business Owners
Whether you practice in partnership, via a company, or you share expenses with another dentist (or dental company) disputes with co-owners are not uncommon. At the outset of the relationship things were a lot more rosy, and you probably didn’t envisage any falling out or disagreement on the direction the business should take.
Sometimes this simply leads to a realization that you can no longer work together and reaching an agreement on how you separate your affairs. Other times it is far more complicated, and perhaps a loss of trust makes it difficult to reach agreement (or find any common ground).
The best way to avoid a nasty and expensive spat with your business partner is to ensure that you have robust and clear agreements in place setting out what each party must, can, and cannot do and how one party can leave the business if the relationship breaks down. It’s easy to agree when you start out and everyone is pulling in the same direction. It will not prevent a dispute, but in most circumstances, it will dictate how the dispute is to be resolved – and it may save all parties £000s in legal fees.
If you do have a problem with your co-owner(s) then please get in touch for a free consultation with our healthcare Disputes expert as early as possible to see how we can help.
Disputes Between Associate and Principal
Someone once asked me what is the most common dental dispute you deal with? Undoubtedly the answer is disputes between associate and principal!
One way for a practice owner to reduce the risk of a dispute with your associates is by having clear and detailed written associate contracts and clear policies covering what you expect from the associate and what they can expect in return from the practice. Do the pay schedules correctly reflect all of the work the practice does? For example, often capitation schemes are not dealt with in the schedule. And what happens on termination with those patient lists?
Even with the best will in the world and thorough paperwork, circumstances change and disputes arise. Often they can be resolved by an open conversation, and other times a solicitors letter can be very effective.
However, some disputes cannot be resolved between the parties and court action is almost inevitable. It is vital that you have a solicitor with the appropriate expertise and engaging a dental dispute lawyer at an early stage will give you the best chance of avoiding court, or the best chance of winning when it’s unavoidable.
Post Completion (Post Sale) Disputes
If you have recently purchased a practice and things are not quite right, you may have a claim against the seller for breach of the sale agreement.
Hopefully, you used a dental expert solicitor to deal with the purchase, and so we would expect your purchase is protected by way of appropriate warranties, and where possible, indemnities. We can help you understand what your rights and options are and we can act on your behalf to recover what is owed back to you.
Equally, there are 2 sides to every argument, and occasionally sellers are unfairly pursued for breaches that do not exist. Often this can happen at the point further consideration is to be paid, and miraculously the value of the claim outweighs the consideration due – so they are not going to pay anything.
Did you sell to a corporate? Are you going to lose out on deferred consideration because your buyer has not effectively run the practice? That can’t be right – right? There may well be a solid cause of action against the buyer.
Call us for a free consultation before matters escalate and before it’s too late.
Contract Tendering Disputes
Are you in the process of bidding for a new NHS contract?
Mistakes in the procurement process and marking are not unknown. However the time limits for raising a dispute with NHSE in relation to a contract tendering matter are incredibly short, so you will need to know very quickly if you have a valid case worth pursuing.
Normally NHSE will give bidders only 10 days’ notice that the contract will be awarded to the ‘preferred bidder’, once the contract has been awarded it is lost. You may still be able to claim damages against NHSE, but even then you will only have 30 days from the date you were notified of the preferred bidder to issue a claim in court – or you will be time-barred from doing so.
Procurement litigation is not for the faint-hearted, recent case law makes it very difficult to achieve anything in court – even when proving mistakes in the marking led to the WRONG bidder being awarded the contract and a multi-million-pound loss to the Claimant, the Claimant was told that the mistakes were not serious enough to permit a claim for damages!
We now wait to see the outcome of that case after it has been considered by the Court Of Appeal (if the parties do continue to litigate), and hopefully the Claimant will get his damages.
In the meantime please call us for a free consultation if you have any concerns regarding public contract procurement in either a Dental or Orthodontic business.
Other Commercial Disputes
Whether you are having issues with suppliers, service providers, or any other business or individual in the running of your practice, our dispute team work closely with the rest of the Prosperity commercial team and we can effectively and efficiently deal with your dispute. This takes the pressure off you, allowing you to continue doing what you do best.
For any concerns about a commercial dispute (or one that is on the horizon) call our team for a free consultation to see what we can do to successfully resolve the issue for you.
