Ashish leased equipment to Ritti for her gym in November 2017. Under their agreement, Ritti had to pay Ashish 3.5 lakhs per month. The agreement did not have an arbitration clause.
Ritti paid Ashish for the first two months but did not pay after that and, by March 2018, owed Ashish 10.5 lakhs. Ashish terminated the agreement and demanded that Ritti return his equipment. Unfortunately, Ritti did not even bother to reply to Ashish.
Left with no other choice, Ashish sued Ritti in court for the return of the equipment and lease rent and compensation and damages for opportunity losses caused by her failure to return the equipment.
Ashish filed the case in May 2018 and incurred substantial legal expenses. By the time Ritti finally appeared in court and settled the case in February 2020, Ashish’s mother passed away due to cardiac complications. They could not afford surgery on time.
Had Ashish ensured that his agreement had an Arbitration clause, his dispute could have been resolved in a few months, and he would have spent much less on legal expenses.
Disclaimer: All characters and names are fictional. This is a public interest story, produced by House Court, an online dispute resolution platform.
