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Mandatory Mediation and Settlement-Related Disclosure Adopted for New York Commercial Division to Encourage Early Settlement
October 9, 2014 download PDF
The Commercial Division Advisory Council was created in 2013 as a follow up to Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman's Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century. The Council's goal is to advise the Chief Judge on an ongoing basis about matters concerning the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of New York, to consider how the Commercial Division can better serve the needs of the business community and the changing economy, and to implement the recommendations of the Task Force's 2012 comprehensive report.
This memorandum is the second in a series of client memoranda explaining changes to the rules that apply to cases in the New York Commercial Division.This memorandum will address two new rules that seek to encourage early settlement of business disputes in the Commercial Division: (a) a new rule sending one out of every five cases in the Commercial Division in Manhattan to mandatory mediation, subject to an opt out provision and (b) an amendment encouraging voluntary, limited settlement-related information exchange at the very beginning of a case, prior to preliminary and compliance conferences. In the future, we will be issuing memoranda on additional pending or contemplated changes to the Commercial Division Rules, including changes to the discovery rules and modifications to the rules regarding court appearances and sanctions.