Commercial mediation is a process that parties to a dispute can undergo, which is a way of making an attempt to resolve the dispute, the place an unbiased third party is appointed to act as a facilitator between them to assist them negotiate a settlement dispute. That unbiased third party isn’t a judge. They’re not going to make a decision on the proof or tell you who’s right and who’s flawed and who wins and who loses. They will aid you see either party’s position and assist them come to a settlement.

The process of commercial mediation

It’s a completely voluntary process. You do not need to attend commercial mediation, and when you are at a mediation, you’ll be able to depart at any time. However it is a good opportunity to have a commercial dispute case settled without the need for the proceedings to either, if they’ve already started, continue and proceed at elevated costs for both parties, or alternatively, have a mediation at an early stage before any litigation has started in an attempt to keep away from those prices starting or running away from the parties at a really early stage.

So, it’s a form of alternative dispute resolution, which is an umbrella time period for a lot of strategies of making an attempt to resolve disputes without having to engage in court proceedings, and it is turning into more and more prevalent in businesses’ minds when they’re having a dispute.

Somewhat than, «Let’s have a big argument and spending a lot of costs and many time in dealing with the dispute», «How can we get to the tip of the dispute in a quicker way and a more price-effective way?» And commercial mediation is a big part of that and an excellent way of reaching that end goal in a much more cost- and time-efficient manner.

Do I have to attend commercial mediation?

Mediation is a voluntary process, however there will be adverse cost penalties in litigation if a court believes that a party has unreasonably refused to mediate.

So, if one party to a dispute makes a suggestion of mediation, it can be very prudent, unless there’s a particularly good reason why the other party doesn’t want to mediate, and those reasons could also be that the opposite party’s case doesn’t have any merit or the value of the case concerned could be such that the costs of mediation, even attending a mediation can be disproportionate to the worth of the dispute.

However, that aside, you would need to have a reasonably good reason not to, to not mediate. In any other case, a court might make an adverse prices order towards a party who has unreasonably refused to mediate.

So, it is a case really that the court does anticipate the parties at all times and all stages of a dispute to attempt to succeed in a settlement, not necessarily by way of mediation completely, however the court does expect the parties to try and reach a settlement. And mediation, as we have already mentioned, is a good way of doing that in a timely and value-effective manner.

Is the outcome of commercial mediation legally binding?

The end result of mediation can be legally binding in very specific circumstances, and that is as soon as an agreement recording the position reached at mediation in a legally binding document.

So, it’s recorded in writing and signed by these parties to the dispute. Till that has happened, the end result of a mediation will not be legally binding, and it could be open to either party to the mediation to renege on the agreement or not enter into the agreement or seek to attempt to change the agreement for every during the course of the mediation, up until the point that it is being recorded in writing and signed by the parties. And due to this fact, we advise shoppers who’re at mediation and have gone via the process of reaching a settlement at mediation to attempt their utmost to get that agreement signed on the day of the mediation. And generally, the recording of the agreement can take just as lengthy, if not longer, as to actually the parties reaching the agreement at mediation themselves.