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Archive for the ‘Pilot Program’ Category

After Successful Pilot, RSI Seeks Mediator Partners for Next Phase of Trust Project

Jennifer Shack, July 17th, 2024

Last year, RSI began the pilot phase of a research project to examine how mediator behaviors might affect parties’ trust during mediation. During this exploration phase, our research team has been observing small claims and eviction mediations and marking down mediators’ communication behaviors, in a process referred to as coding, for the Trust Project. We gathered pre- and post-mediation surveys from the parties, and we interviewed the mediators involved.

From left, Rackham Foundation’s Ava Abramowitz, RSI Director of Research Jennifer Shack and Behavior Analysis Trainer Kenneth Webb gave a presentation on the early findings of RSI’s Trust Project at the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution 2024 Spring Conference in April 2024.

After coding 22 mediations and completing a thorough review of our piloted data collection instruments, RSI has successfully completed our pilot phase. We are excited to share that we will soon be expanding the project and are looking for mediation organizations and/or individual mediators who would like to partner with us.

Method Adapted for Mediation

The Trust Project is based on behavior analysis (BA), a research method that codes for particular communication behaviors and connects them to desired outcomes. This method has been used successfully in negotiations and sales. BA examines the particular behaviors used as well as the sequences of behaviors that occur, to determine their effects on specific desired outcomes. In this instance, RSI is interested in changes in trust between the parties and changes in trust in the mediator. We are also interested in mediation results and participant perceptions of the mediation and the other party.

Over the course of five years, Ava Abramowitz and Ken Webb worked to modify communication behaviors used in the contexts of negotiations and sales for use in mediation — with a lot of input from mediators and researchers. Ava is a former assistant U.S. attorney, longtime mediator and secretary of the Rackham Foundation. Ken is an expert in behavior analysis, coding and training negotiators to improve their practice. He trained RSI’s researchers in behavior analysis. Thanks to generous support from the Rackham Foundation, RSI has the opportunity to conduct this innovative research into the effects of mediator behaviors on party trust.

Watch Michael Lang’s 2021
In Their Voices interview with Ava Abramowitz and Ken Webb for more insight into the idea of applying behavioral analysis to mediation — the concept behind the Trust Project!

Mediator Partners Sought

For the next phase of the Trust Project, RSI will observe mediations of small claims, family and larger civil cases, both in person and online. We are looking for partners in this endeavor. Interested organizations and mediators would work with RSI to determine how to effectively recruit parties. Mediators will be asked to complete an initial survey about their background and approach to mediation, to facilitate observations of their mediations, and to complete a survey after each observed mediation. We will preserve confidentiality of the mediations, the mediators and the parties by removing any identifying information from the data.

If you are interested in participating in this impactful research, please contact RSI Director of Research Jennifer Shack at jshack@aboutrsi.org.

Limited Participation Reduces Success of Otherwise Promising Texas Pilot ODR Program, Evaluation Finds

Just Court ADR, May 31st, 2022

A newly published study conducted by RSI Director of Research Jennifer Shack and University of California, Davis, Professor Donna Shestowsky highlights both the potential of online dispute resolution (ODR) and the importance of appropriate outreach and education on ODR to maximize participation and, thus, program impact.

Jen and Donna evaluated a pilot program in Collin County, Texas, that used a text-based ODR platform to resolve debt and small claims cases in a single court. By adopting ODR, the court sought to reduce the burden of a growing caseload while providing access to justice through a process that did not require the parties to travel or miss work to resolve their case.

The evaluation produced evidence that ODR can be an effective method of dispute resolution, especially for debt cases. In 73% of cases where both parties used the ODR platform, participants resolved their dispute and avoided trial. The rate is similar to that of cases that had the opportunity to use in-person mediation. Unfortunately, however, the program’s goals were not met, because both sides used ODR in only 24% of cases uploaded to the platform. Findings and recommendations related to these outcomes are discussed later in this summary.

The Pilot Program

The pilot ran from September 2019 through August 2020; thus it was concurrent with the COVID-19 pandemic from March to August 2020. Additionally, because ODR is a rather new practice in this context, some details of the program and the platform’s application were being worked out even as the evaluation took place.

The Modria ODR platform allowed parties to communicate by text one-on-one or with the help of a mediator. Parties were ostensibly required to use the platform before their first hearing. If parties reached agreement, their case was dismissed without a trial. During the 12-month pilot period, 1,874 debt and 274 small claims cases were filed, for a total of 2,148 cases.

When a defendant filed an answer, the civil clerk determined whether the case was eligible for ODR. It was ineligible if one side had multiple parties, if a party was not equipped to use ODR, or (until the second quarter of 2020) if the court did not have email addresses for both parties or their attorneys. If the case was eligible, the clerk uploaded it to the ODR platform, which in turn rejected any cases that contained errors, such as missing information, and sent an error report to the IT department so the errors could be fixed. When email addresses and phone numbers were available, the platform sent an automated email (and after April 2020, also a text) to the parties, instructing them to use ODR. The clerk also set the case for trial and mailed the parties, or their attorneys, a notice of their trial date and informed them they were required to use ODR prior to that date. The notice included a link to the platform.

Once a case was uploaded to ODR, participants had 45 days to negotiate one-on-one via the platform’s chat function. At any time during this window, either side could ask for a mediator. Mediation cost each party $40 and had to be completed within 30 days.

If participants reached agreement on the platform, they were given the opportunity to sign an online agreed judgment form, which was automatically sent to the case management system, and the trial was cancelled. If the participants did not reach agreement, the parties continued to trial unless they otherwise reached agreement before the trial date.

Key Findings

Below are some of Jen and Donna’s main findings and top recommendations from their evaluation. For more details and complete recommendations, read the full report here.

Litigant Use of ODR

  • 49% of cases with answers filed were uploaded to ODR. During the pilot period, answers were filed in 698 cases. These 698 cases form the subset that could potentially have been uploaded to ODR. Of these, 341 cases (49%) were eligible and did not contain errors that barred their upload. These were ultimately offered ODR. According to court staff, the most common reason that cases with answers filed were not uploaded to ODR appears to be that the court lacked email addresses for at least one side of the case.
  • One party completed at least one activity online in 50% of cases uploaded to ODR. In 170 of 341 cases (50%), at least one case participant performed at least one activity on the ODR platform, such as asserting a claim, uploading a file, or using the chat function to communicate with the other side.
  • Both sides completed at least one activity on the ODR platform in about one-fourth of eligible cases. In 81 cases (24%) uploaded to ODR, both sides used the platform. Parties in small claims cases were more likely to use ODR (76%) than parties in debt claim cases (45%).
  • Litigants appeared to be unaware of the ODR program. Litigant survey responses suggested that parties were generally not aware of the ODR program, despite participation being required. Only one survey respondent out of ten indicated having received information about the program. When asked what would make them more likely to use ODR for a similar case in the future, half said more information.
  • Litigants had limited access to information about the ODR program. According to court staff, the only ways litigants received information from the court about the ODR program was through the notice the court mailed to them (or their lawyers) about their court date and through an email or text from the platform when the court uploaded their case, if their side had an email address or cellphone number on file with the court. Both of these events occurred only after the defendant filed an answer.
  • Litigants appear open to online options. Among survey respondents, none of whom had participated in ODR, two out of three indicated that the option to use it in future similar cases was attractive. Similarly, when asked to consider using video mediation to resolve future similar cases, 60% responded favorably. 

Outcomes and Time to Disposition

  • 73% of cases in which both parties used ODR resolved before trial. The percentage of ODR cases that resolved before trial was similar to that of cases that did not use ODR, both before and during the ODR program.
  • Debt claim cases were significantly more likely than small claims cases to resolve before trial. Additionally, debt claim cases in which defendants were represented were significantly more likely to resolve before trial than debt claim cases in which defendants were unrepresented.
  • Time to resolution was, on average, 4.6 months for cases that used ODR. This figure includes cases delayed either because of the court’s closure amid the COVID-19 pandemic or because of an upload error on a court server.

Program Costs

It is important to note that workload and cost conclusions are derived from self-reports made during interviews and are inherently subjective.

  • Direct costs to the court to implement ODR were covered by a filing fee. Litigants covered the costs through an extra $5 filing fee the court instituted for all civil cases filed in Collin County except eviction and mental health cases.
  • There were significant indirect costs to the court. Court personnel indicated that they devoted a significant amount of time to ODR prior to its launch. The project manager estimated that the cost in staff time approached six figures and was largely due, in his opinion, to the numerous meetings that involved many court personnel as well as the high percentage of time that he and the responsible IT staff member spent on the project in this phase. Some of this effort laid the groundwork for an anticipated county-wide rollout of ODR.
  • Costs to administer ODR were minimal. After the program’s launch, the time that personnel spent on ODR appeared to drop considerably. No one interviewed reported spending more than a couple of hours per week on the project.
  • ODR did not appreciably change administrative workload. The court administrator and the civil clerk did not perceive an appreciable increase or decrease in their workload. However, it is hard to determine what their workload may have been in the absence of the COVID-19 pandemic, or how much it would have been had greater effort been expended on promoting litigants’ awareness of the program and otherwise attempting to increase ODR use.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this evaluation, the following recommendations may be relevant for any court considering implementing ODR:

  • Expect to spend significant time and resources to get the program up and running.
  • Notify parties and lawyers about the ODR program early in the process.
  • Educate litigants and lawyers more fully about the program.
  • Conduct outreach to raise awareness of, and promote interest in, the ODR program.
  • Explore video mediation as a dispute resolution option.

Idaho’s Pilot Eviction Mediation Program Shows Early Signs of Success

Nicole Wilmet, January 29th, 2021

As a result of COVID-19, Idaho’s Canyon County, like many counties across the United States, is facing an increase in eviction cases. After seeing success with mediation programs in two other nearby counties (Ada and Idaho Falls), Canyon County launched its own pilot eviction mediation program for landlords and tenants this past November. This new program offers landlords and tenants the opportunity to potentially avoid the unknowns that can arise during eviction hearings or trials. For landlords, one of the greatest unknowns of an eviction trial may be the significant loss in back rent payment. For tenants, a trial may result in the fear of losing a home and having a permanent eviction judgment on their record – which may make it difficult to find other housing in the future. As a result, with this eviction mediation program, landlords and tenants in Canyon County now have the opportunity to address these unknowns directly and craft their own alternative solutions for their case.

Since the Canyon County program’s launch in November, 38 eviction cases have been scheduled for a hearing and each case has agreed to try the court’s new mediation program. Recent reports indicate that during the mediations, most renters are agreeing to “[pay] some money in a specified amount of time.” If tenants are able to uphold that agreement, “then at the review hearing their case is dismissed.” Of these 38 cases, recent news outlets further report that only “18% of tenants did not uphold the bargain and evictions were entered” and “only 5%, or two cases, did not reach [any type of] a resolution” during mediation. In the same report, Third District Judge Susan Clark shared that the mediators for the program are hired on a contract basis and, currently, the estimated cost to the county for the program is $150 per case. 

Illinois’ Third Judicial Circuit Launches Pilot Family Law Mediation Program for Pro Se Litigants

Nicole Wilmet, January 31st, 2020

In November, Illinois’ Third Judicial Circuit announced its receipt of a grant from the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice. The grant’s funds have allowed the Circuit to create a pilot family law mediation program for divorce and family cases that involve two self-represented litigants. Angela Wille, the Circuit’s Self-Represented Litigant Coordinator, is managing the grant along with Associate Judge Maureen Schutte, Supervising Judge of the Family Division.

In the announcement, Chief Judge William A. Mudge said, “this is a great opportunity for families in Madison County to meet with a certified, neutral third-party mediator and attempt to reach a mutual agreement regarding issues pertaining to their children and/or their property.”

The court began referring cases to the program in December 2019.

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