Commercial mediation is a process that parties to a dispute can go through, which is a way of trying to resolve the dispute, the place an independent third party is appointed to behave as a facilitator between them to help them negotiate a settlement dispute. That independent third party isn’t a judge. They’re not going to make a call on the evidence or let you know who’s proper and who’s fallacious and who wins and who loses. They will allow you to see either party’s position and help them come to a settlement.

The process of commercial mediation

It’s a very voluntary process. You shouldn’t have to attend commercial mediation, and when you’re at a mediation, you’ll be able to go away at any time. However it is a superb 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 avoid these prices beginning or running away from the parties at a very early stage.

So, it’s a form of alternative dispute decision, which is an umbrella time period for a lot of methods of attempting to resolve disputes without having to engage in court proceedings, and it is changing into more and more prevalent in businesses’ minds once they’re having a dispute.

Somewhat than, «Let’s have a big argument and spending lots 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-efficient way?» And commercial mediation is a big part of that and a great way of reaching that finish goal in a a lot more price- and time-environment friendly manner.

Do I have to attend commercial mediation?

Mediation is a voluntary process, however there will be adverse cost 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 a particularly good reason why the other party doesn’t wish to mediate, and those reasons could also be that the other party’s case doesn’t have any merit or the value of the case involved would be such that the costs of mediation, even attending a mediation would be disproportionate to the worth of the dispute.

But, that aside, you would have to have a reasonably good reason not to, not to mediate. In any other case, a court may make an adverse costs 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 phases of a dispute to attempt to succeed in a settlement, not necessarily by mediation completely, but the court does expect the parties to try to reach a settlement. And mediation, as now we have already mentioned, is an effective way of doing that in a timely and value-efficient manner.

Is the result of commercial mediation legally binding?

The result of mediation can be legally binding in very particular circumstances, and that is 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 occurred, 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 each in the course of the course of the mediation, up till the purpose that it is being recorded in writing and signed by the parties. And due to this fact, we advise shoppers who are at mediation and have gone by the process of reaching a settlement at mediation to try 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.