I recently mediated a case between parties who have been litigating for over six years with no end in sight. A peremptory challenge to the trial judge was just granted and, as a result, the parties were unlikely to go to trial for at least another two years. Even worse, the present lawsuit was not likely to resolve all the issues between the parties and the filing of another lawsuit seemed probable. With this background, I set out to resolve the parties’ dispute and put an end to past and future years of litigation.
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I recently mediated a large personal injury case in which the plaintiff sustained severe injuries. As is often the case, the parties started the mediation far apart. I told the parties that negotiations are often reciprocal with large settlement moves responded to with large moves in return and small settlement moves responded to with small moves in return. Notwithstanding my recommendation that the parties make large moves at the outset of the mediation to narrow the range between their settlement positions, they took the path of only making small moves.
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