Forum Advice

The most obvious choice open to all disputants is to consider mediation in advance of any more adversarial forum. However, care must be taken when making this decision, as not all disputes are suited to mediation and this can be evident at the outset. In addition, parties must consider the likely success of mediation bearing in mind the other side. If it is highly likely that mediation will never solve the dispute at hand, then mediation may very only cause you to disclose your hand and enable the other side to garner additional information for the main dispute hearing.

The next choice parties often have to make is whether to take an action in the High Court or in the Circuit Court. This is a matter based upon the most likely outcome of a hearing. If the claim could fall either side of the €75,000.00 threshold, then parties need to be very mindful of the possible cost implications of commencing their action in the High Court where they might only recover Circuit Court costs, or even worse, may find themselves liable for the extra unnecessary High Court costs incurred by the other party. This is matter that needs careful consideration and expectation management by advisors.

The final matter covered here is not so much forum advice, as chairperson advice. It is always open to parties in ADR proceedings to choose a chairperson jointly. In the absence of agreement, most ADR agreements provide for a nominating body to nominate a chairperson. Management of this process is a very important aspect to consider in commencing proceedings. It is rarely in a parties interest to leave it up to the nominating body as you may not be happy with the appointment. However, parties have a reluctance to agree upon chairpersons proposed by the other side. This is a process that needs to be very carefully managed in order to obtain the most suitable chairperson to decide upon the dispute in question.