The Hindu Business Line : Dispute resolution: Mediation catching on in US States

MEDIATION is the engine driving the explosive growth of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) system across all of the US for settling disputes, particularly with regard to commercial transactions. It is also used for resolving disputes pertaining to product liability, bodily injuries, construction contracts, and medical malpractices.

Making a presentation on `Use of ADR in business and commerce' at the office of the Executive Secretary, Supreme Court of Virginia recently to a visiting team of company lawyers, practising attorneys, and senior executives from India, Mr John B. McCammon, Founder-CEO of The McCammon Group (TMG), said that ADR was yielding better results at much lower costs compared to conventional court-based trial system.

He said that ADR as an alternative was all set to explode in the near future in an environment where still the jury trials dominate, putting enormous stress on public finance.

According to him, the development of the ADR system began in the 80s in the west coast of the US and then has spread to the entire country, and by 2000 had recorded a phenomenal growth.

A former litigator himself, Mr McCammon created the largest private mediation provider company in Virginia in 1995 around the same time that suitable ADR legislation was passed in the State.

The group now has 50 former judges and experienced attorney-mediators working for it, with clients who are primarily businesses, large commercial organisations, doctors, etc.

Admitting that ADR cases today are dominated by attorneys, Mr McCammon said: "It takes the best in the business to succeed as an arbitrator."

The life cycle of an ADR trial in Virginia now is said to be one year compared to five years in California. Explaining the due process, he said that attorneys agree to mediate and to use TMG's services; TMG picks both the professional and the process to be adopted, as there are lots of variations in ADR, including a pre-trial hearing.

TMG, with many professionals on its rolls as on 2004 was totally customer-driven. Adjudication of cases in Virginia has been the fastest, where the life cycle of an appeal was just one year, he said. Attorneys are paid by the hour and the parties share the costs.

Of 5,510 cases handled so far by TMG, 90 per cent have been settled by mediation and only 10 per cent through arbitration.

The resolved cases would involve something like $2 billion upwards, with an average case resulting in a minimum settlement of $3,60,000.

The number of normal jury trials in Virginia, thanks to the popularity of ADR, has fallen by 60 per cent in the last 10 years. The types of cases that now get resolved through ADR are mostly non-criminal and tort-based.

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