Appellate Mediation?

Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog by John Bratt

In the past, I have written about alternative dispute resolution as a means for resolving personal injury cases before trial. Well, there is a new article out in the Maryland Bar Journal about how mediation is being used to resolve cases on appeal in the Court of Special Appeals.

I never thought that mediation would be useful on appeal, because an appeal by its very nature involves two parties with entrenched positions on opposite sides of a legal issue. I guess I was wrong, because according to the article, 69% of the cases that go through the Court’s appellate mediation program settle.

I have only had one of my appeals go through the mediation program. My case didn’t settle, but I thought it was a useful process. They use two mediators, a retired judge and an attorney mediator from the Court’s mediation office. In my case, they were both well prepared and up-to-speed on the law involved. The process wasn’t the reason my case didn’t settle. But the plus side is that now I et to argue the appeal, which I really enjoy doing!

                       

John Bratt

John Bratt is an attorney at Miller & Zois, LLC. He represents injured plaintiffs in all trial and appellate courts in Maryland. He also accepts attorney referrals for all types of civil appeals. MORE >