If the entire case is not settled, agreement may be reached on some of the issues, thereby at least narrowing the issues to be litigated. As with all dispute resolution techniques, there are some risks to settlement conferences. There will be added expense and possible delay if the dispute is not resolved, even in part, and all issues go to trial.
If the dispute does go to trial, there also is a risk that some element of trial strategy may be disclosed or compromised in the settlement conference process. Settlement conferences may be used for simple and complex cases.
This method may be combined with mediation. During a mediated settlement conference, the parties, their attorneys, and a mediator are required to sit down together to discuss the matters in dispute and to try and resolve them. The conference will typically occur relatively early in the litigation process, but after parties have had time to conduct discovery and learn about the case.
Learn more about the program. Mediated Settlement Conference Brochure. Rule 1. The program is operating in all N. Conversely, in cases where it seems expert witnesses will play a more decisive role, the mediation should probably not be conducted until a sufficient amount of expert discovery has been conducted.
But there really is no reason to be intimidated by mediation. It is an informal low-pressure proceeding at which the client is not expected to answer questions for the other side or engage in any kind of public speaking. At a mediation, the parties are separated from each other, and they do not generally see each other or communicate directly with each other. The communications are delivered and received through the mediator. At a mediation, the parties generally gather in the same building, but they are physically separated from each other.
From the middle, the mediator is in the best position to broker a settlement between the parties. Sometimes I sense that mediators are not engaging with the parties as much as I think they should. Rather than engaging, I sense that they are simply carrying offers and counteroffers back and forth between the parties. A bargaining bracket is where the parties agree to negotiate within certain defined parameters i.
Any party can propose a bracket. If the plaintiff rejects the bracket proposal, then the parties can continue to negotiate outside of the parameters of the rejected bracket. First, the case will be settled if, and only if, both parties accept the proposal. At a mediation, nobody is forced to settle.
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