What are the Court’s procedures for referring cases to alternative dispute resolution?
The DCO will have a deadline for the parties to inform the Court of their ADR strategy. ADR does not have to be in the form of mediation; however, mediation is the easiest ADR technique for the Court to administer. When a mediator/neutral has been agreed to by the parties, please inform the Court by writing a letter to the Coordinator in order for that information to be entered in the Clerk’s computer system. If the ADR deadline passes and no agreed mediator/neutral is in the Clerk’s computer system for your case, the Court will order a mediator and a deadline by which mediation should be accomplished. Both the DCO and any mediation order are, in fact, court orders and should be given the same attention as any other court order. If the ADR deadline or the assigned mediator is not appropriate for your case, please file a motion to that effect at least thirty days before the ADR deadline. An agreed motion to modify the DCO or to substitute the mediator will be considered by the Court wit
