Our mediation turned out very well. I was pleased with the mediator, the case we put on, and the result.
I’ve written before that I am a big fan of mediation. I serve as a mediator on cases on occasion so that is no surprise. If you are not familiar with the process, it generally involves two sides sitting down and crafting their own solution to the pending case. Most cases are about money (as the one we mediated yesterday was) but there is also room for very creative and innovative solutions. A good mediator is a Godsend. And yesterday we had a very good mediator who I would use again.
The mediation was booked through JAMS which specializes in complex business mediation.
The day was harrowing in the beginning. The traffic into town was worse than normal and our 1.5 hour commute took 2.5 hours making us late. I do not do late well. I had to wave an extra $20 in front of a parking attendant to get him to let my car into his full lot. That part was fun. I’d never done that before.
Generally in a mediation you start out with everyone in a big room together and each side makes a statement about what their case is about. We were attempting to compel the defendant to pay on a contract it said we breached. Our position was that no breach occurred and the issue involved the defendant’s own ability to use the product we sold them.
Once both sides explain their position the parties break into two different rooms and the mediator goes back and forth between the parties in an attempt to get them to come to an agreement. While the mediator is talking to the other side, each side retools their position, second guesses where the other side is going and tries to figure out where to go next. Sometimes it is fairly apparent where it is going to end up, and in this case the mediator motioned what he thought the ultimate number would be, when we started. Getting there is a different story of course.
Getting there can be a log slog. And it was yesterday. But we made it and it is done.