Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

PAGE PREVIEW

Here are two exchanges sparked by the February cover article, “Settle It Twice: How to Use a Pending Summary Judgment Motion in Mediation,” 34 Alternatives 17 (February 2015)(available at bit.ly/1pbPFBM or upon request at Alternatives@cpradr.org). Article author Michael D. Young, a neutral in the Los Angeles office of Judicate West (see www. mikeyoungmediation.com), responds to both of the reactions to the technique he suggested in the article, which involved parallel tracks of ADR and litigation.

* * *

New York: I like the idea as a fall back—i.e., as a Plan B, if Plan A fails. Your plan requires the parties spending time and money in briefing the summary judgement motion, whereas my Plan A, if it works, saves those expenses and risks for both parties. . . . [M]y Alternatives article . . . describes my Plan A. [See “The Mediator’s Proposal: Whether, When and How It Should Be Used,” 30 Alternatives 121 (June 2012) (available at http://bit.ly/1QIia3i).]