I can't believe prior art search before patent filing is even legal

I'm dealing with a situation and need some guidance tbh.

prior art search before patent filing. I've been dealing with this for about 5 months now and the situation isn't improving.

I have already tried to resolve this directly but the other party is not cooperating.

Am I overthinking this or is this a real legal issue worth pursuing?

I work in this industry and unfortunately this is very common. The good news is that when people actually push back with legal representation, companies usually settle.