Specializing in Construction Disputes
Sage Mediation Services is an option to retain control, expedite, and significantly reduce the cost of resolving construction disputes. Mediation is a proven approach. Successful resolution is not guaranteed, but even if the mediation is not entirely successful it is highly likely to narrow the dispute, focus the key issues, and can initiate a process that the parties can build on.
While I have been involved in individual construction disputes in excess of $100 million, and many with values in the tens of millions, those mega disputes are not the focus of Sage Mediation Services. My focus is to help parties achieve resolution of conflicts and disputes quickly and at low cost. My target is smaller disputes (but still highly important to the parties) where the process of a protracted dispute or litigated outcome makes everyone involved a loser.
Most mediations are scheduled for one day, though less fact intensive/less complex matters can be scheduled for a half day. The fixed service fee includes preliminary “convening” services to set the stage for mediation success and follow-up services aimed at assuring that settled matters remain settled.
Use of an attorney advocate is the norm, but not a precondition. The decision of who to bring to the mediation and whether to utilize an expert is equally optional. Typically, the parties are asked to submit a simple brief of the key facts and issues in dispute which are exchanged, but this is an option. I also often benefit from a very short confidential brief to the mediator.
Neutral Evaluations can be an extremely practical and effective approach to either resolving disputes or achieving interim solutions designed to keep a construction project moving forward. In some ways they are similar to mediation and in some ways they are completely opposite.
There are many forms of Neutral Evaluation Services. The role of the evaluator must be designed and agreed to by the parties. I can assist the parties tailor a Neutral policy/agreement tailored to specific project requirements. In some matters the evaluator is charged with making very prompt decisions which are binding on the parties for purposes of continuing performance but subject to other resolution options at a later time. On other matters the decision of the evaluator is final, with a cap on the value of the decisions.
Personally, I have had the most experience in acting as Neutral Evaluator when the parties are already in conflict and have agreed to seek a non-binding, inadmissible, third party opinion from a technically knowledgeable, neutral party (i.e., an outside test of each party’s position).
In all these circumstances, the role of the neutral is a technical evaluation (i.e., insertion of outside knowledge and expertise).
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