What can you do if it appears that your legal fees will exceed the amount at stake in your client’s case? Perhaps the best piece of advice you can give may be referring your client to the King County Dispute Resolution Center, one of the most effective alternate dispute resolution resources in the Puget Sound area. In most cases your client will pay nothing for the Center’s services.

Founded in 1986 by the Seattle-King County Bar Association, the Center is celebrating its nineteenth anniversary next month. The Center is the largest dispute resolution center in the Pacific Northwest, according to Patti Dudley, its executive director. In addition, the Center’s King County Small Claims Court Mediation Program is the largest small claims court mediation program west of Chicago.

“I think it would be good for lawyers to tell clients about the Dispute Resolution Center as an extra option, even before the clients go to court,” said King County District Court Judge Arthur Chapman, “It’s worth exploring, because it generally doesn’t cost anything, and if it doesn’t work, there’s always the court option.”

Wide Variety of Cases Handled
The Center provides mediation and telephone conciliation services in a wide variety of civil areas, including landlord/tenant cases, divorce parenting cases, merchant/consumer cases, employer/employee cases, and disputes between neighbors. The Center does not handle cases involving violence, physical or emotional abuse, substance, abuse, or criminal conduct.

Mediation Success Rate Is High
During 2003, the District Courts referred approximately 820 Small Claims Court cases to the Center. Dudley said that the Center’s staff settled approximately 70% of those cases, which is consistent with success rate for all cases mediated at the Center, and also consistent with mediation success rates nationally.

King County District Court Judge Eileen A. Kato said she is a “huge fan of the Dispute Resolution Center program in our courts.” She emphasized that in her experience the parties who settle their cases “are much more satisfied with the result than if they were to proceed to trial without possessing the evidence and skills necessary to prove their case.” “In fact, over the past eighteen months, only three cases have returned to my courtroom for resolution when the terms of the mediation have not been satisfied. This alone demonstrates the great success of the Dispute Resolution Center’s program in our courts,” Judge Kato said.

Mediated Settlements Offer More Flexibility
King County District Court Judge Mariane Spearman said that she tells litigants in her courtroom that negotiated settlements allow the parties maximum control and flexibility. “The parties can negotiate any type of settlement that they think is fair and equitable, including installment payment plans and even non-monetary conditions,” she said. “But if they throw themselves at the mercy of the court, the judge won’t be able to grant them any relief that doesn’t have a dollar sign attached to it.”

Benefits of Mediation at the Center
The Center is chartered and operated as a “Dispute Resolution Center” as defined pursuant to Chapter 7.75 RCW. The statute provides a number of important benefits to the Center’s clients, including:

• The services are free or are assessed on a sliding scale in most cases.
• Meetings are private, and statements made in the mediation proceedings are confidential and cannot be used in later court proceedings.
• Any applicable statute of limitations is tolled while the mediation process is pending.

Additionally, according to Dudley, parties generally are much more likely to comply voluntarily with a mediated settlement than with a judgment.

Well-Trained Mediators
The Center provides services through its five paid staff members and more than 40 volunteer mediators, 20 telephone negotiators, and 40 District Court conciliators.

“I’ve been very impressed with the DRC mediators that have assisted in my court,” said King County District Court Judge Barbara Linde. “They appear to be very skilled at drawing people out and getting them to talk about settlement.”

All of the Center’s mediators undergo 40 hours of classroom instruction, Dudley said. They also must complete a practicum comprising at least 24 hours, in which the trainees assist veteran mediators in actual cases. Training for the telephone negotiators involves at least 24 hours of classroom instruction plus closely supervised on-the-job training, she said.

Center Reduces Court Congestion
Seattle District Court Judge Mark Chow said that when a Small Claims Court claim is filed, the claimant receives a letter from the Court describing the Center and encouraging the parties to call the Dispute Resolution Center. On the trial date, the District Court Judge again informs the parties of the availability of the Center’s mediation services. Parties are allowed to participate in a mediation session without losing their place on that day’s trial calendar if their negotiations are unsuccessful.

“The result is less of a backlog for the parties,” Judge Chow said. “And from an administrative standpoint, the Center allows the Court to spend more time with the cases that don’t go through mediation at the Center.”

Divorce Mediation Program
For several years the Center also has operated a divorce mediation program. The mediators provide assistance in putting together proposed property settlement arrangements and parenting plans. Additionally, the Center currently is implementing a pilot program to mediate anti-harassment cases in the District Court, Dudley said.

Bar Association Roots
The Dispute Resolution Center was founded by the Seattle-King County Bar Association in January 1986, on the recommendation of a multi-disciplinary task force. Its purpose was to provide an effective forum and realistic remedies for persons whose grievances otherwise might remain unsolved because of the delay and expense of formal Court litigation. In recent years, about 65% of the Center’s funding has come from King County through a dedicated surcharge on King County District Court filing fees. n