MEDIATION FEE DEPOSIT AND CANCELLATION
We require payment of the mediation fee (estimated), two weeks in advance. We do not charge a cancellation fee, unless cancellation occurs less than two business days before the agreed date. Our last-minute cancellation fee is $500. Otherwise, the advance payment is refunded aside from time spent on the matter.
HOURLY RATES
We charge $450 per hour, payable as the parties agree. If the parties do not otherwise agree, then each side pays one half of the fee. We charge $100 per hour for travel time and add actual out of pocket expenses we incur (but not gasoline or mileage). We charge for our time studying documents the parties provide.
HOURLY RATES APPLICABILITY
We do not charge for one preliminary telephone conference to confirm all details, and if the mediation is not successful we will, at no charge, consult twice on the phone with the parties should further effort be requested. We read mediation briefs filed a week in advance for free.
We do charge for travel time (if over an hour), for the hearing, and for reviewing evidentiary documentation. It is not unusual, for example, for us to have to review two or more cartons of documents in some medical malpractice matters. Usually though, a few key documents are what the parties provide. Confidential settlement briefs are acceptable, but in our experience agreements are more likely to be reached if they are not deemed confidential.
LOCATION
We try to arrange for a location convenient to both parties.
Where the parties do not provide a setting for the mediation themselves, we arrange for one, typically at a court reporter’s office, available courthouses, or a neutral law firm located conveniently to both sides, or at our office. We pass on the actual cost of the facility that we pay to the host. No markup. In southern Siskiyou County there is no facilities fee.
WRITTEN SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS:
We usually come prepared with a rough draft of a settlement agreement to be signed by the parties so that case specific agreed terms can be written out in an “Attachment A”.