ADR-Rules-for-Public-Comment-4-4-2011

Rule 16.4 Alternative Dispute Resolution(a) Purpose. The Court adopts Local Rules 16.4 to 16.710 to make available tothe Court and the parties a broad program of court-annexed dispute resolution processesdesigned to provide quicker, less expensive, and generally more satisfying alternatives tocontinuing litigation.It is not contemplated that all of these processes --early neutral evaluation,mediation, arbitration, summary jury trial, and summary bench trial--will be suitable forevery case. Rather, the Judges of the Court believe that the careful selection of processesto fit the cases will result in the efficient preparation and resolution of those cases, to thebenefit of the parties, their counsel, and the Court.(b) Definitions.(1) "Arbitration" is an adjudicative process by which a neutral person orpersons (the arbitrator(s)) decide the rights and obligations of parties. Thearbitration process described in Local Rule 16.7 is court-annexed, in that it isarranged and administered by the Court. It is also consensual, in that the partiesconsent to participate, and non-binding.(12) The "assigned Judge" is the Judge to whom the case is assigned. Ifthe Judge has referred the matter to a Magistrate Judge, the Magistrate Judge isthe assigned Judge under Local Rules 16.4 to 16.10 with respect to actions ordecisions which are to be made by the assigned Judge.(23) "Early Neutral Evaluation" ("E.N.E.") is a pre-trial process involvinga neutral evaluator ...