NCJ Number
101421
Journal
Judicature Volume: 69 Issue: 5 Dated: (February-March 1986) Pages: 279-285
Date Published
1986
Length
7 pages
Annotation
In early 1986, the Federal district court for the Northern District of California began an experimental program of early neutral evaluation to promote early and substantive communication between disputants and encourage parties to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their cases with a view toward pretrial settlement.
Abstract
The program's central feature is a confidential 2-hour case evaluation session early in the litigation process. The session is hosted by a neutral, respected private attorney experienced in civil litigation. The attorney is appointed by the court under its power to appoint special masters. The court requires the parties, accompanied by counsel, to attend the session. Each party presents its position, and the evaluator works with counsel to reduce the scope of the dispute, assesses the strengths and weaknesses of arguments and evidence, and evaluates the case. The evaluator helps litigants devise a plan for sharing information and conducting discovery that will posture the case for settlement negotiations. The program will experiment with approximately 100 cases over 1 year under a system of monitoring and evaluation. 16 footnotes.