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A 10-year-old center, staffed by volunteers, resolves disputes more cheaply and quickly than the courts.

BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News

A

re you and a neighbor
constantly arguing about
trees, fences or noise?
Are you and your land-
lord bickering over items in the
rental agreement?
Do you feel a local store has
deceived you over a purchase? Do
you think your employer docked
your pay unfairly? Is a rip-roaring
battle raging in your family over
some petty issue and no one knows
how to handle it?
There's a way to settle these dis-
putes without further animosity,
filing lawsuits, incurring expensive
legal and court costs, or possibly
ending up with unnecessary mental
stress and medical fees.
Just take the case to the Oakland
Mediation Center. OMC provides

mediators for situations Left: Nancy Klein
fee from each case filed
like these, and has
talks with volunteer
in an Oakland County
achieved an 85 percent
mediators David
court. Created as part of
success rate in resolving Rosenthal, left, of
the Community
Southfield and
disputes. The center is
Dispute Resolution Act
Harvey Burdick of
staffed by 75 volunteer
by the Michigan
Bloomfield Hills.
mediators from diverse
Legislature in 1988,
professions and religious
almost every county has
and ethnic backgrounds Right: Rosenthal and
a mediation center.
Burdick work with a
— including a number
couple to find a solu-
of Jewish people.
Mutually Satisfactory
tion.
Known as the
"Mediation usually is a
Settlement Center when
`win/win' solution to a
it was formed 10 years ago, the
dispute — one party doesn't win
OMC now is tucked away in a
while the other loses," explained
small building behind the Costco
Nanci Klein of West Bloomfield.
store on Telegraph Road in
She became executive director of
Bloomfield Hills. There's a branch
the OMC last year, after practicing
office in Southfield's 46th District
law for 13 years. "The goal of
Court building because many cases
mediation is to have all parties
are referred to mediation from
arrive at a mutually satisfactory
small claims court.
agreement. And the probability of
The OMC, with a full-time staff settling a dispute to the satisfaction
of five, is mainly supported by a $2
of both parties through mediation

is much higher than in court."
Here's how the process works:
Two or more Oakland County resi-
dents involved in a dispute meet
voluntarily in a private, confiden-
tial setting to work out a mutually
acceptable solution. They are assist-
ed by two neutral mediators. A $20
filing fee is charged to the party
initiating a mediation. In complex
cases, the cost is slightly higher.
At the mediation session, all dis-
puting parties have the opportunity
to fully describe. the problem and
to suggest options to resolve it. The
mediators help them agree to a
realistic, workable solution.
But mediators aren't judges or
arbitrators — they don't decide
who is right or wrong. When an
agreement is reached, the mediators
compose a written settlement,
signed by everyone. The agreement
is a legal contract that can be

J.Zk

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2000

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