Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Construction Mediation San Diego As An Option For Dispute Resolution

By Marissa Velazquez


It is possible for disputes to arise between a contractor and his client during construction. These disputes if not well managed can lead to a court case. It is therefore better for the contractor and his client to resolve any dispute through reconciliation. There are many benefits of construction mediation San Diego service over other ways of dispute resolution or civil litigation. Mentioned below are some of the major benefits of this method of dispute resolution.

Reconciliation is very cost effective means of settling a dispute as compared to civil litigation. Court battles can be very expensive, and can lead to loss of an employee which is another big expense to the construction company. However, reconciliation is able to achieve the same results or even better with fewer expenses because the process does not take long.

Reconciliation is always faster than a court process. Due to the fact that the courts have a backlog of cases to handle, such a case can run for as long as one year to full trial. Some criminal cases are deemed by the courts more urgent thereby pushing back such civil suits. On the other side, reconciliation would take a shorter time since it only requires the concerned parties together with a moderator to agree on time and venue.

Reconciliation processes allow the aggrieved parties ample time for full participation to come up with their own solutions through a deliberation of their opinions and concerns. This is never accommodated by a court process. Legal representative for both parties are usually keen to defend their clients and geared to win the case than settlement.

Through reconciliation the source of the dispute is investigated in greater detail and the two parties work together unlike a civil litigation case where they blame each other in front of a judge. The mediator has skills on how to negotiate on problems which involve high emotions. He knows the right words and tone to use when addressing the two parties in the reconciliation room.

In most cases reconciliatory engagements focuses on the way forward instead of basing on the previous experience. This is always good since the parties are allowed a window of settlement and carry on with the work up to finalization of the project. It also allows them to device ways of avoiding such problems in the future. A court case always ends up with a ruling of the court which is final and both parties are compelled to abide by that. Since such a verdict will always favor one side, it might result in enmity between the two parties.

Reconciliation is confidential in nature and provides privacy for parties involved who do not want their issues to be exposed to the public. The mediator helps the two parties to iron out their problems in an enclosed place and he ensures whatever is discussed is kept secret between him and them. This is not so in a civil litigation case because court proceedings are not private.

In reconciliation, both parties are able to check the background and experience of the mediator unless he is specified in the disputes resolution part of the project contract. Most of the building contractors prefer a mediator specialized in construction mediation San Diego and is fair and just to both parties. In civil litigation the two parties have no option in the choice of the judge and even the jury.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment