Mediation is a non-adversarial,
out-of-court alternative used to settle disputes. You and the other person with
whom you have the dispute would meet together with a panel of volunteer mediators
in a neutral location to discuss and attempt to resolve your dispute.
Mediation usually involves
just one session, about two hours in length. There is little or no cost involved.
Mediation allows you and the other participants to work out a solution together,
rather than risking having a Small Claims Court Commissioner make a decision
for you. Eighty percent of disputes brought to mediation are settled.
You may want to consider
mediation before initiating a Small Claims Court action. However, you may initiate
mediation even though you have a Small Claims Court action pending. You can
arrange to have your mediation scheduled before your court hearing. Then, if
you are satisfied with mediation, you and the other party may decide to forgo
the court process.
Mediation is especially
helpful in situations where parties have an ongoing relationship. Often neighbors,
business associates, landlords/tenants, and consumers/merchants find that mediation
restores their valued or necessary relationship which might have been destroyed
by the adversarial process of going to court.
The San Mateo County Small
Claims Mediation Program conducts mediations during some Small claims Court
sessions to assist the court in settling claims. The mediation provides an opportunity
for the parties to create their own solutions rather than to have a court commissioner
issue a judgment.
