Good Example Of Essay On Mediation Proceedings

In this paper, two different scenarios will be narrated and in both situations, conflicts took place that needed to be resolved. The opposing parties in the two cases decided to bring up each of their disputes to the mediation proceedings with the hope of resolving and amicably settling their disagreement. In a world that is full of chaos, fights and a lot of misunderstandings, the concept of mediation is an ideal alternative to resort to, rather than immediately bringing up the battles into court. Litigation in a court setting is expensive, stressful and promotes an adversarial atmosphere. Furthermore, court cases require parties to be represented by their lawyers who speak with the opposing party on their client’s behalf. Given this, settlement is less likely to happen considering, more often than not, lawyers’ interests may also come into play like dragging or delaying further the case in order to generate more legal fees. Lawyers, though, who take into primary consideration their client’s interest will properly advise and recommend to their client to try to settle first the conflict with the opposing party through the process of mediation before deciding to file the case in court. Mediation is an informal way of settling any dispute or conflict between two parties and only when the dispute is not settled that the parties bring the matter to the courts. Case 1 In the first case, a car accident took place involving two women, party A and party B. Party B, in this case, hit party A’s car causing party A several injuries. Party A went to the
hospital, had herself checked up by the doctor to see if the accident did not cause any other damages to herself on top of her injuries, like fracture to the bones or even possible internal hemorrhage. The doctor then examined her injuries, treated it and prescribed her a series of medication treatment. Party A also stayed at the hospital overnight, as advised by the doctor, to make sure everything is alright with her. Given the accident and the injury she suffered, party A thought of filing a case in court against party B in order to compensate her for the injuries she suffered, the inconvenience caused by the accident and even her absence from work when she had to go to the hospital for the check up and had to stay there overnight. As per advise, however, of party A’s friend, she considered having her case submitted to a mediation process in order to try to settle the matter out of court. In a mediation proceeding, the opposing parties will come together to try to come up with a win-win solution to the problem. A mediator, who is a neutral third person, will be assigned to handle the case and help the parties arrive with the best possible settlement agreement beneficial to both parties. The mediator does not decide the outcome of the case but merely facilitates the discussion during the mediation sessions. It is very important, then, that said mediator does not take any side while the mediation is ongoing. It is the aim of the mediation process and the goal of the mediator to come up with a settlement that is free from any form of bias or influence, especially, from the assigned mediator since the ultimate objective of the whole proceeding is to protect the interests of both parties through a fair and reasonable agreement acceptable to everyone. The accident involving party A and party B, in this case, was brought to a mediation proceeding upon request of party A and in agreement with party B. A mediator has been
assigned to facilitate the mediation sessions. The first session has been scheduled and both parties were notified of the date and the venue of their first mediation or dispute resolution proceeding. During the first mediation session, both party A and party B arrived at the specified venue. The presence of both parties was a good start and an indication that they had the intention to settle the matter between them. The mediator proceeded to start with the session with his opening statement. In his opening, he introduced himself to everyone and introduced the parties involved who were present. He explained the goal of the mediation proceeding and encouraged all parties to participate and work cooperatively to achieve a settlement. After the introduction and after stating the main objective of the proceeding, each of the parties was given time to tell their own side of the story, to inform everyone what the dispute was about and how they were affected. Each party was also encouraged to recommend the best possible way to resolve the conflict. During this stage, one party was prohibited to interrupt while the other party was still speaking. In this case, party A informed the body of the accident that happened and how she suffered from the injuries caused by the accident. She also told everyone about the inconveniences caused to her by the accident as well as the financial costs she incurred in relation to her hospitalization, medicines and damages to her car. Meanwhile, party B narrated as well the accident that transpired from her own perspective. She also mentioned the fact that she was driving responsibly when a pedestrian suddenly crossed the street without looking at the danger side of the road and to avoid hitting said pedestrian, she had to steer her car quickly to the other side of the road which lead her to collide with party A’s car. After both parties had aired their sides separately, the next stage involved the joint discussion of the two parties in relation to what they have shared in their individual opening statements. Here, they would determine the issues they would like to address. In this case, party A would like to be compensated for all the costs she incurred to include the costs of inconvenience and trauma she experienced after the accident. For this reason, party A demanded for the amount of $75,000 to be awarded to her. Party B did not agree with the amount. Considering there was no malice on her part and took all the necessary precautions to try to avoid the accident, party B was only willing to pay the amount of $5,000. This covered for the costs that party A incurred in the hospitalization, medicines and car repair. Party A refused this amount. Considering that the two parties did not agree, the next stage involved private caucuses of the individual parties with the mediator giving them the chance to discuss separately with their mediator the strength of their own arguments and to propose other ways to resolve the dispute. Mediator may hold caucuses only once or several times as needed. After the individual caucuses, the next step was to hold again a joint negotiation by both parties in order to resolve the conflict. In this case, the private caucuses of the mediator with party A and party B allowed the parties to discuss their stands with the mediator and why they believed their arguments were strong. When the joint negotiation stage was convened thereafter, each party retained their personal stands. Party A still demanded for the $75,000 amount of damages while party B did not agree with the amount and countered $5,000 as originally offered. Party A still refused. Considering the two parties did not come up with an acceptable settlement, the mediation proceeding already came to its final or closing stage. In this stage, the mediator would review whatever progress has been made and would advise everyone of their other options. These options include scheduling another meeting, going to arbitration or filing the case in court. In this case, party A and party B reached an impasse and decided to proceed to court.
the costs they suffered including the financial costs as well as the emotional trauma his whole family experienced with the accident and even afterwards. A mediation proceeding was then requested and filed by party A spearheaded by the father. Party B was duly notified. Both parties then selected a neutral third party to act as their mediator and who would handle and facilitate the mediation procedure. Mediation is considered as one of the modes of alternative dispute resolution. The mediator then set a schedule and designated a venue for the initial mediation session and sent proper notification to the two parties involved in this mediation proceeding. The two parties, party A and party B, arrived at the designated venue on the day of the scheduled proceeding. They were met by the mediator who lead them to the conference room. After being seated, the mediator opened the session by introducing himself and introducing all the parties present. He also explained the reason why the parties were called, the objective of the mediation procedure and his role and his goals as a mediator. He also informed the parties of the different rules of the proceedings as well as encouraged participation and cooperation from all the parties involved. After the introduction and the expectation settings, the mediator requested for each of the parties, party A and party B, for their own opening statements encouraging them to narrate the case in their own words. They were also asked to describe what the dispute was about and how they got affected by the conflict. In this stage, parties were encouraged as well to recommend what they believe would be the best possible way to settle the dispute. While one party was speaking, the other was discouraged to interrupt as each would have the time to air their personal sides. Party A, in this case, proceeded with the narration of the facts while party B was listening.
After party A concluded informing the body pertaining the facts of their particular situation, the mediator then asked party B to narrate his side of the story. Party B, as requested, informed everyone present of the details of what has happened according to how he has witnessed it. After the individual opening statements by party A and party B, the mediator encouraged the two parties to discuss among themselves the issues, what the parties would like to address and ultimately, what they intended to achieve. During this part of the proceeding, party A demanded for the amount of $35,000 to be awarded to them considering what the family underwent during and after the accident. The father said that the accident did not only entail financial costs to his family but what was also critical was the emotional trauma his whole family had suffered after the accident. He said that the amount they were demanding would somehow compensate said trauma as there was great danger and risk to their lives brought about by the accident caused by party B. It was on top, of course, of the expenses they incurred with the hospitalization, several medical tests, series of medications and drugs they have purchased to treat their injuries and the repair for their car that was damaged. Party B, however, refused to agree with the said amount demanded by party A. He justified that he did everything he could to avoid the accident and furthermore, assisted the family the best way he can even after the accident. Given this, he then pronounced his counter offer amounting to $5,000. He said this amount was already enough to cover the costs the whole family incurred with the hospitalization, medical tests and other hospital bills as well as the repair for the car damage. Party A, however, refused the said amount given as a counter offer by party B.
Considering that the parties did not agree and did not reach an agreement, the mediator then held a caucus session with each of the parties, party A and party B, in private. After the caucus, the parties again faced each other for another negotiation. This time, party A reduced the amount of his demand to $25,000. However, party B still refused to agree with said amount even if it was already reduced by party A. He again countered the amount of party A, this time, offering an increased settlement of $10,000. Though the amount was increased, party A still declined the offer. Another caucus was called by the mediator with each of the parties and after the individual caucuses, another negotiation between the parties transpired. Party A reduced further his demand to the amount of $20,000. But then again, party B still refused the said amount. This time, he also countered again and raised his offer to the amount of $14,500. Party B said that this would already be his last offer and in the event that party A still would not accept the amount, he could no longer raise up the offer and would already opt to go to court. After careful thoughts and deliberation by the whole family, they decided to accept the final offer given by party B and the case was put to a close considering both parties have agreed and already reached an amicable settlement. The mediator, afterwards, had put the details of the agreement in writing to be signed by both parties in order to serve as an evidence of the successful resolution of the case.