Commercial mediation is a process that parties to a dispute can go through, which is a way of attempting to resolve the dispute, the place an independent third party is appointed to behave as a facilitator between them to assist them negotiate a settlement dispute. That impartial third party isn’t a judge. They’re not going to make a decision on the evidence or tell you who’s right and who’s improper and who wins and who loses. They will provide help to see either party’s position and assist them come to a settlement.
The process of commercial mediation
It’s a completely voluntary process. You wouldn’t have to attend commercial mediation, and when you are at a mediation, you’ll be able to depart at any time. But it is a superb opportunity to have a commercial dispute case settled without the necessity for the proceedings to either, if they have already started, continue and proceed at elevated prices for each parties, or alternatively, have a mediation at an early stage before any litigation has started in an try to avoid those costs starting or running away from the parties at a very early stage.
So, it’s a form of other dispute decision, which is an umbrella time period for a lot of strategies of attempting to resolve disputes without having to engage in court proceedings, and it is becoming more and more prevalent in companies’ minds once they’re having a dispute.
Rather than, “Let’s have a big argument and spending numerous costs and plenty of time in dealing with the dispute”, “How can we get to the top of the dispute in a quicker way and a more value-efficient way?” And commercial mediation is a large part of that and a great way of reaching that end goal in a much more price- and time-environment friendly manner.
Do I’ve to attend commercial mediation?
Mediation is a voluntary process, but there will be adverse value 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 would be very prudent, unless there’s a particularly good reason why the other party does not need to mediate, and people reasons could also be that the opposite 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 could be disproportionate to the value of the dispute.
However, that aside, you would have to have a fairly good reason to not, not to mediate. Otherwise, a court could make an adverse costs order against a party who has unreasonably refused to mediate.
So, it is a case really that the court does count on the parties always and all phases of a dispute to attempt to achieve a settlement, not necessarily by way of mediation solely, however the court does anticipate the parties to try and attain a settlement. And mediation, as now we have already discussed, is an effective way of doing that in a timely and value-efficient manner.
Is the end result of commercial mediation legally binding?
The result of mediation would be legally binding in very particular circumstances, and that’s 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 those parties to the dispute. Until 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 try and 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 are at mediation and have gone via the process of reaching a settlement at mediation to try their utmost to get that agreement signed on the day of the mediation. And typically, the recording of the agreement can take just as lengthy, if not longer, as to truly the parties reaching the agreement at mediation themselves.