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The following explanation of mediation in appellate cases is intended as general information about the Oregon Appellate Settlement Conference and is brought to you as a public service by the lawyers of the State of Oregon. The material presented is general legal information intended to alert you to possible legal problems and solutions.
What is an appellate settlement conference?
An appellate settlement conference involves mediation of a case on appeal. Typically, a trial has taken place, and a party who is not satisfied with the outcome of the trial seeks to challenge that outcome by appealing the trial judgment to the Court of Appeals. Mediation is a process in which persons who have a disagreement over issues involved in an appeal are assisted in reaching an agreement by a neutral person or judge trained in problem solving. If a judge is a mediator in an appellate settlement conference, it will not be a judge who would decide the case on the Court of Appeals, if the parties do not settle the case.
What kind of cases go into the Appellate Settlement Conference Program?
There are three kinds of cases that go into the appellate settlement conference program. These types of cases are general civil, domestic relations, and workers’ compensation cases. If any party’s case is not randomly assigned by the court into the program, a party may choose to participate in the Appellate Settlement Conference Program. All cases are screened by an attorney on the court’s to determine whether mediation is appropriate for that particular case.
When are cases assigned?
Cases are randomly assigned to the Appellate Settlement Conference Program immediately after a notice of appeal has been filed. After assignment, the case is put on the inactive docket for 120 days. If the case does not settle, or if the case is removed from the program, the appeal is immediately reactivated and the parties continue with the appeal process.
What is the cost of the Appellate Settlement Conference Program?
For a general civil appeal or domestic relations appeal, each participant pays $250. For a workers’ compensation appeal, each party pays $150. This amount covers the cost of up to six hours of mediation. The parties are instructed where to make those payments. People whose incomes are very low can ask for the fee to be waived.
What happens at an appellate settlement conference?
The mediator will generally have telephone contact with all the parties involved before the mediation. The mediator will go over the process with the parties. At the time scheduled for the settlement conference, the mediator and the parties and their attorneys will talk about various options instead of continuing the appeal. The goal of the mediation is for the parties to reach an agreement about the outcome of the lawsuit, so no further costs or attorneys fees will be necessary. If the parties agree to settle the case, the appellant will ask the Court of Appeals to dismiss the appeal. If the case is not settled, the appeal will be reactivated, and the Court of Appeals will decide what happens to the lawsuit.
Are the discussions during an appellate settlement conference confidential?
All discussions made during an appellate settlement conference are confidential under Oregon law unless the parties agree otherwise. In addition, the judges on the Court of Appeals are not told which cases are assigned to the Appellate Settlement Conference Program.
Is this program also available at the Supreme Court?
Cases at the supreme court level are evaluated by the justices on a case-by-case basis to determine if they might be appropriate for mediation.
This information is from the Oregon State Bar's Tel-law service, a collection of recorded legal information messages prepared by the lawyers of Oregon. In addition to being online, the Tel-law service is accessible by telephone at 503-620-3000 or toll-free in Oregon only, 1-800-452-4776. A touch tone phone allows direct access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To receive a free Tel-law brochure listing the subjects available call 503-620-0222, ext. 0.