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The Florida Supreme Court has recently approved certain important amendments to Florida Rules of Civil Procedure 1.720, governing Mediation of civil lawsuits filed in Florida State Courts. These amendments become effective on January 1, 2012, and are summarized as follows:
- “Unless provided by court order or stipulated by the parties in writing, the following persons are required to be physically present at mediation: (1) The party or a party representative having full authority to settle without further consultation; and (2) The party's counsel of record, if any; and (3) A representative of the insurance carrier for any insured party who is not such carrier's outside counsel and who has full authority to settle in an amount up to the amount of the plaintiff's last demand or policy limits, whichever is less, without further consultation.” A “public entity” must present “a representative with full authority to negotiate on behalf of the entity and to recommend settlement to the appropriate decision-making body of the entity.”
- “‘[P]arty representative having full authority to settle’ shall mean the final decision maker with respect to all issues presented by the case who has the legal capacity to execute a binding settlement agreement on behalf of the party.” If a party delegates full settlement authority to multiple persons to serve together to make a final decision, then all of these persons must physically attend the mediation.
- Unless otherwise stipulated by the parties, “10 days prior to appearing at a mediation conference,” each party shall file with the court and serve on all other parties “a written notice identifying the person or persons who will be attending the mediation conference as a party representative or as an insurance carrier representative, and confirming that those persons have the authority” to settle, as stated above.
- The Court on motion of any party “shall impose sanctions, including award of mediation fees, attorneys' fees, and costs,” against any party who, without good cause, fails to appear at a duly noticed mediation. “The failure to file the written confirmation of authority,” as required above, or the “failure of the persons actually identified in the confirmation to appear at the mediation conference, shall create a rebuttable presumption of a failure to appear.”
- None of the foregoing requirements are deemed to mean that any party or party representative who appears at the mediation must enter into a settlement agreement. “A decision by a party representative not to settle does not, in and of itself, signify the absence of full authority to settle.”
- The parties are free to agree to modify these procedures, including who is required to be physically present at the mediation.
Click on the following links for copies of Florida Rules of Civil Procedure 1.700 - 1.750 (at pages 79 - 83) and the Florida Supreme Court Amendments to the Florida Rule fo Civil Procedure 1.720.
Additionally, for your information, here are the current Mediation Rules applicable to legal proceedings in the United States District Courts of Florida:
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