Large, Complex Construction Disputes: The Dynamics of Multi-Party Mediation - Chapter 42 - AAA Handbook on Construction Arbitration and ADR - Third Edition
Albert Bates, Jr. is Chairman of the Construction Group of DUANE MORRIS, LLP, focusing on construction dispute resolution and domestic and international arbitration. Also an arbitrator and mediator, Mr. Bates serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association and serves as the Chairman of the AAA's Practice Committee. He is past Chairman of the AAA's National Construction Dispute Resolution Committee. He also serves on the AAA's National Construction Arbitrator Master Panel, and its newly created AAA Construction Mega Project and Master Mediator Panels.
L. Tyrone Holt is the Managing Principal of THE HOLT GROUP LLC, in Denver, Colorado. Mr. Holt provides professional construction arbitration and mediation services throughout the United States through his company, Western Neutral Services, LLC. He is Past-President and a Member of the Executive Committee for the College of Commercial Arbitrators; and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is a past member of the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry. He is a coeditor and a chapter author of the book, Design Professional and Construction Manager'Liability. He also serves on the AAA's National Construction Arbitrator Master Panel and its newly created AAA Construction Mega Project Panel.
I. Introduction
The mediation process can be a highly successful form of dispute
resolution because it aims to minimize the costs, time, and disruptive
effects inherent to litigation or arbitration. Through the right amount of
negotiation and compromise, the parties involved can reach an acceptable
resolution of difficult issues that avoids the time, expense and uncertainty
of the binding dispute resolution mechanisms offered by arbitration and
litigation. The purpose of this chapter is to identify some of the more
typical characteristics of, and to address some techniques that may be
applied to allow for, the effective mediation of large, complex construction
disputes, focusing particularly on the dynamics associated with multi-party
mediation