CONSTRUCTION LAW - CONSTRUCTION MEDIATION

FACT-BASED CONSTRUCTION MEDIATION

Mediation, a process of resolving disputes, is “ADR”, an Alternate Dispute Resolution forum. It is an alternative to arbitration or litigation.
At any time in the construction industry and related professions, most people are ill-prepared to afford the time, emotion and monetary cost of litigation. These compelling factors have, over the past 35 or more years, fostered the rise of Fact-Based Mediation, or “ADR”, as an alternative to arbitration or litigation.
Mediation, unlike litigation or arbitration, utilizes the presiding guidance of a skilled, impartial, neutral third-party who serves as the Mediator, whose function is permit the parties to openly and unemotinally present, discuss, negotiate and resolve their conflicts and claims. This alternative to litigation is now being utilized to resolve an almost limitless variety of disputes and claims in personal, business, trade, industry, commerce, government and professional matters.
Mediation is also a confidential way of resolving claims and conflict. The parties are asked to sign confidentiality agreements and the inner workings of the business are kept absolutely confidential and no public record is peremitted, at law, as it may be in other forms of dispute resolution. The protection of the parties’ right to privacy is a key factor to both the business and the aggrieved party and makes mediation an attractive choice.
Fact-based mediation, specifically designed to serve the needs of the construction industry and professions, is a departure from conventional mediation techniques. It is a highly specialized, technical approach, dealing with the specific facts in dispute, along with applicable construction contract documents, contract terms, trade, labor, industry customs and procedures all considered.

Dispute resolution of construction claims and disputes by fact-based mediation permits the parties to make informed business decisions based on an independent and impartial analysis of the operative facts that gave rise to the dispute. To address these highly technical matters, the parties need the experienced guidance of a Construction Mediator. This individual, through education, training and experience can provide each party with an impartial, confidential assessment of the probable outcome and possible future costs, should they refuse to resolve their claims in mediation, and elect to go to arbitration, or litigation before a jury. With that information in hand, the parties are more likely able to make rational choices that allow the mediation to be successfully concluded and the claims resolved. Statistically, the settlement rate for fact-based construction mediation is approximately 90 percent, and at much less investment in time, emotion and money.
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Author/Editor: J. NORMAN STARK is an Attorney-at-Law, a Registered Architect, (AIA, NCARB) Registered Landscape Architect, Interior Architectural Designer, Planner and Senior Appraiser (ASA). He serves clients in Mediation, Arbitration and Litigation. He is admitted to practice law before the Bar of Ohio, the US District Courts of Ohio and Illinois (Central Dist.), the US Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. A former Member of the Ohio Board of Building Standards, he has professional experience in Business, Construction, Real Property, Mechanics’ Liens, Litigation, Collections, and Construction-Legal Claims, Project Litigation, and provides Expert Witness Testimony and Support. His office is in Cleveland, Ohio.
WEBSITE: www.Jnormanstark.com