Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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Toward the end of some mediations, when further progress seems stalled, the mediator’s arsenal of tools to dislodge the stalemate includes what has become commonly known as the “double blind” proposal.

Mediators typically explain that term as a mediator’s settlement proposal which the participants must either accept or reject within a specified amount of time, with no side being informed as to the others’ responses unless all are positive.

The desirability of mediator’s proposals can be debated. See, e.g., Wynne S. Carvill, “The Danger of Mediator’s Proposals,” JAMS ADR Blog (June 9, 2020) (available at https://bit.ly/3kK9Cxo) (observing that “parties soon expected the settlement conference to conclude on that basis” and consequently “were in effect no longer negotiating with each other, but positioning themselves to influence what my proposal would be”).