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

The process of commercial mediation

It’s a totally voluntary process. You do not have to attend commercial mediation, and when you find yourself at a mediation, you may go away at any time. But it is a great 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 increased costs for both parties, or alternatively, have a mediation at an early stage earlier than any litigation has started in an attempt to keep away from these prices beginning or running away from the parties at a very early stage.

So, it’s a form of different dispute decision, which is an umbrella time period for many strategies of making an attempt to resolve disputes without having to engage in court proceedings, and it is becoming more and more prevalent in companies’ minds after they’re having a dispute.

Slightly than, «Let’s have a big argument and spending numerous prices and lots of time in dealing with the dispute», «How can we get to the tip of the dispute in a quicker way and a more value-effective way?» And commercial mediation is a large part of that and an excellent way of reaching that finish goal in a much more price- and time-efficient manner.

Do I’ve to attend commercial mediation?

Mediation is a voluntary process, but there may be adverse value consequences 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 could be very prudent, unless there’s an especially good reason why the other party does not wish to mediate, and those reasons could also be that the opposite party’s case doesn’t have any merit or the worth of the case involved could be such that the prices of mediation, even attending a mediation can be disproportionate to the value of the dispute.

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

So, it is a case really that the court does expect the parties always and all stages of a dispute to attempt to reach a settlement, not necessarily through mediation completely, but the court does expect the parties to try and reach a settlement. And mediation, as we now have already discussed, is a good way of doing that in a timely and price-effective manner.

Is the end result of commercial mediation legally binding?

The result of mediation can be legally binding in very specific circumstances, and that’s once an agreement recording the position reached at mediation in a legally binding document.

So, it’s recorded in writing and signed by those parties to the dispute. Till that has happened, the outcome 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 through the course of the mediation, up till the point that it is being recorded in writing and signed by the parties. And subsequently, we advise purchasers who’re at mediation and have gone by means of 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 really the parties reaching the agreement at mediation themselves.