Mediation and Arbitration - Dispute Resolution

"In the florid language of the argument, I regarded [the parties], one or the other, if not both, of them, as 'completely cuckoo' to have engaged in such expensive litigation with so little at stake. ...

And what benefit can mediation bring?  It brings an air of reality to negotiations. In this case the sheer commercial folly could have been amply demonstrated to both parties sitting at the same table but hearing it from somebody who is independent. ...

The cost of such a mediation would be paltry by comparison with the costs that would mount from the moment of the issue of the claim. ... It is not a sign of weakness to suggest it.  It is the hallmark of commonsense.  Mediation is a perfectly proper adjunct to litigation.  The skills are now well developed.  The results are astonishingly good.  Try it more often." 

" ... I commented on the relatively modest sums at stake and compared them with the costs which will have been incurred by both parties in preparing the voluminous documentation and contesting a five day trial.  In such circumstances it was, I suppose, inevitable that such costs far outweighed the sums in issue in the litigation."

The Defendants agreed to consider Mediation but only once the Claimant had properly set out its claim. In the circumstances of the Case, the Judge did not consider that that was an unreasonable line for the Defendants to take.  He considered when the best time might be to mediate:  see the Mediation Questions page of the Mediation section of this site.

But he also considered that the Claimant's uncompromising attitude to the Defendants and his claim against them and concluded that an early Mediation had little or no chance of success.