In 2011, an evaluation of Michigan’s court-connected case evaluation and mediation programs found that both case evaluation and mediation increased the probability of settlement, but that case evaluation significantly increased time to disposition. A newly published follow-up study, The Use of Case Evaluation and Mediation to Resolve Civil Cases in Michigan Circuit Courts: Follow-up Study Final Report (Courtland Consulting, May 2018), came to the same conclusion.
Case evaluation, in which a panel of expert neutrals makes a recommendation as to what the case should settle for, is mandatory for tort and medical malpractice cases. Mediation in most jurisdictions is voluntary, and can be used in conjunction with case evaluation. The study looked at a random sample of 358 cases (221 torts cases, 137 other civil cases) from three jurisdictions to determine what ADR process was used, the means by which the cases were resolved, and the time to disposition for each case.
The study found that for tort cases, there was no statistically significant difference in the form of disposition among the different options: no ADR, case evaluation only, mediation only, or both case evaluation and mediation, with a range of 71% (no ADR) to 92% (mediation) ending in a settlement or consent judgment. For other civil cases, both case evaluation and mediation (and both together) had higher rates of settlement than those cases that did not use ADR (47% for no ADR, 79% for case evaluation and 80% for mediation). The difference appears to be in the higher rate of dismissal/default judgment for cases in which no ADR process was used (49% v 21% for case evaluation and 13% for mediation). For both torts cases and other civil cases, time to disposition was considerably longer when case evaluation was used than when either mediation or no ADR was used.
When compared to mediation, case evaluation started later in the case and averaged longer to disposition from the point at which the ADR process ended. The delay could be attributed to case evaluation being rescheduled more often, although it wasn’t clear whether it was rescheduled without having been held or whether more than one session was needed.
While the findings regarding case resolution and time to disposition were similar to the 2011 findings, the lawyers and judges who responded to a survey about their perspectives on case evaluation indicated they were less satisfied with this process. Judges in particular were less confident in the effectiveness of case evaluation, with the percentage of judges who believed it was effective dropping from 69% to 53%. Attorneys had a much smaller dip, from 49% to 43%. Similar drops were seen in the percentages who would use case evaluation if it wasn’t mandatory. The percentage of judges who said they would use it dropped significantly, from 83% to 66%, while the already small percentage of attorneys who would in 2011 (36%) dropped to 29%. The attorneys’ opinion of case evaluation was reflected in their comments about the panels. They complained that the panels lacked experience, were unprepared, were biased and did not address the merits of the case.
On the other hand, the judges’ and attorneys’ already high opinion of mediation remained steady. In 2011, 89% of the judges said mediation was an effective way to resolve disputes, compared to 93% in 2018. Attorneys were also much more likely to say mediation was effective than to say that case evaluation was, with 77% and 78% saying so in 2011 and 2018, respectively. While they had a high opinion of mediation, only 53% of attorneys said the mediators were highly skilled.
The comparison results were limited by a couple of factors. The cases that did not go through ADR processes were not similar to those that did. They were commercial cases, which are less complex, involve lower value claims, and require less discovery than other civil cases. Further, mediation was voluntary in most cases. This means the sample of mediation could be skewed by self-selection, in that the parties who decide to mediate could have been more motivated to settle and/or to settle early.
Thanks, Jen, for once again bringing another empirical study to our attention, and adding to our understanding of the ADR field.
My pleasure, Jim. I’m glad you found it interesting.