Advantages of Mediation

I am going to write about advantages of Mediation over alternatives to dispute resolution such as Arbitration, Adjudication, Ombudsperson or Conciliation.

• Most importantly Mediation is less costly than other ADRs.
• Mediation conducted well reduces the likelihood that either of the disputants will seek legal remedy.
• Mediators help to restore communication and normalize relations.
• Mediation allows for full participation by the conflicting parties.
• Mediation has a high success rate. It is estimated that once the disputants have agreed to mediate at least 80% of the time they are able to work out an agreement that is acceptable to both the parties.

I want to illustrate the advantage of mediation by this example of my aunt and her tenant. My aunt had a two-storey house in India. She lived with her family downstairs while a tenant rented the upper floor. This tenant family resided in the their house for more than 20 years. In the early 90s when there was a boom of building projects in Mumbai, my aunt decided to give the house to a builder who would build a multi storey tower there, and give them appropriate cost of the plot plus 3 apartment units. Accordingly she asked the tenant to vacate the house. However, the tenant refused to vacate the house, based on tenant law in India. He asked for an apartment in the new tower as a substitute for this house in which he lived for 25 years, which my aunt refused. Based on this my aunt’s family and the tenant family got into a tussle. Both the parties were adamant on their own stand and got into very bad verbal, nonverbal and physical dispute. Finally the tenant decided to mediate, to resolve this issue. After listening to both the parties and their stance in this dispute, the mediator settled this issue by making my aunt pay the tenant to leave her house. Although the tenant did not get an apartment in the new tower, he could buy a new house with that money in the suburbs, while my aunt was happy that she did not have to give him a whole new apartment in the tower from her share.