It’s not often that the legal term “alternative dispute resolution” makes the news. But with a bipartisan arbitration bill in Washington DC, recent changes to the Michigan Court Rules, and the backlog of civil cases caused by pandemic, ADR, as it is called, is a timely topic. Here to break it all down for us is Grand Rapids personal injury attorney Tom Sinas of Sinas Dramis Law Firm.
Due to the lengthy postponement of jury trials as a result of the pandemic, more civil litigants than ever have had to seek alternative dispute resolution in their cases.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is simply a way of solving a case by some means other than going to trial, including a jury trial or a bench trial, which is a trial conducted by a judge.
In Michigan, three common types of alternative dispute resolution are available in civil cases:
- Mediation – Mediation is the general concept in which both parties get together in a confidential process and choose a neutral third party to act as a mediator. The third party’s job is to see whether or not they can bring the two opposing parties together toward a voluntary settlement.
- Case Evaluation – This process generally involves a panel of three lawyers convening and reviewing both sides of the case before them. This panel reviews written materials, oral arguments, and then the panel attempts to reach a unanimous decision about what the case should resolve for. Each side then has the opportunity to either accept or reject that panel’s decision.
- Arbitration – While arbitration may take on many different forms, its distinguishing characteristic is that someone else (either another person or a group) makes a decision about the case outside the courtroom and that decision is binding upon everyone involved.
Generally, arbitration is binding. Case evaluation is seen as somewhat binding because there can be negative consequences for the party who does not accept the panel’s decision. Mediation is the most voluntary. The parties in mediation may participate in the mediation process and settle the case, the decisions made in mediation are entirely voluntary.
To learn more, visit sinasdramis.comor call 616-301-3333.
Sponsored by Sinas Dramis Law Firm. Contents of the article provided by Sinas Dramis Law Firm Blog.
