Articles in the Media
Mediators see Advantage in Bypassing Court Action
JAY HARE / DOTHAN EAGLE
Read at the Dothan Eagle
DothanEagle.com Posted: Monday, October 12, 2015 6:19 pm | Updated: 8:47 am, Tue Oct 13, 2015.
by Matt Elofson, Crime and courts reporter
A mediator can provide a cost effective and quick way to resolve commercial and domestic disputes, including divorces.
Holly Sawyer, a Dothan attorney, said a mediator is most commonly used in civil cases involving business disputes and divorce cases, along with family disputes such as child custody and child support.
“There’s nothing more divisive than a divorce trial. Nobody wins a divorce,” Sawyer said. “Through the mediation process everyone has input and the parties control the outcome, versus letting a judge decide.”
SAwyer said mediation helps keep the important decisions within the family or parties involved instead of forcing a decision in open court by a judge with only limited information available.
Sawyer also mediation can result in quick resolutions. Taking a case to trial can be time-consuming.
“Mediation is a time to think about coming together to reach a common goal,” Sawyer said. “It’s to figure out what’s best for them, given their circumstances.”
Sawyer serves as one of 10 mediators in Dothan who are part of a roster maintained through the Alabama Center for Dispute Resolution. She said the court can appoint a mediator from the center’s roster to handle cases. She also said the center has a fund that helps pay for mediation cases involving children.
The benefits of mediation are noted during National Mediation Week from Oct. 11 to 17.
Sawyer said mediations are often court ordered, but sometimes occur by agreement of the parties involved in a dispute.
Typically the mediator meets with the parties involved in the dispute and their lawyers. The mediator will then meet with each group separately and the process will continue until a resolution is reached.
Sawyer said mediators charge an hourly rate just like lawyers. But she said using a mediator will often be cheaper because a resolution can be reached more quickly.
Houston County Bar Association President Ashton Ott, who also serves as a local mediator, said mediation is a good tool for solving disputes because people can voice their grievances without being restricted by the rules of evidence in an open courtroom.
“Time is a huge factor,” Ott said. “It can take years for you to get your case heard by the court.”
Sawyer also said there are two basic ground rules for mediation. First, a mediation settlement is final once the agreement has been signed.
“Once it’s settled in mediation you don’t have to go before a judge because it’s settled,” Sawyer said.
Secondly, everything handled during mediation stays confidential, she said.
“My job as mediator is to nudge parties toward the center to reach a compromise,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer said a decision or settlement agreement reached through mediation cannot be appealed because it is a binding final decision.
“Out of everything I do as a lawyer, being able to sit down with people who are going through a divorce and usually have children in the middle and help them work out an agreement they can both live with as an alternative to litigation actually makes me feel like I’m making the world a better place,” Sawyer said.
The 10 Dothan mediators are: William C. Carn III, D. Taylor Flowers, Yvonne Gabrielson, Peter A. McInish, Ashton Ott, Christina L. Robinson, Holly L. Sawyer, Jere C. Segrest, Ron Storey and J. Kevin Walding.