Mediator Under the New Jersey Court Rules

Selected by the Court to Participate on the Roster of Mediators for Civil, Equity, and Probate Litigation, and for the Mediation of the Economic Aspects of Family Law Cases

The New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Complementary Dispute Resolution developed a mediation program for use in civil, general equity and probate cases, as well as for the economic aspects of family law cases. In all counties, the court can require the parties to participate in at least three hours of mediation in those types of cases. Mediation is now mandatory in all counties in New Jersey.

The highly trained mediators participating in the program have been approved for inclusion on a roster of approved mediators by a subcommittee of the Committee on Complementary Dispute Resolution. Mediators must meet training requirements set forth in Court Rule 1:40-12 and other criteria adopted by the subcommittee. When a case is referred to mediation, the court assigns a mediator from the roster, but the parties can thereafter substitute any other mediator who they believe is more suitable. Under Court Rule 1:40-4(a), the mediator provides the first two hours on a case without charge. Thereafter, mediators will generally be paid their market rate fee, the cost of which is borne by the parties.

Appropriate cases for referral can be identified by judges, court staff, or the parties themselves, at any point in the life of a case. Mediation has been used successfully in a broad range of cases that exhibit the following characteristics: the parties have an ongoing business or personal relationship or have had a significant past relationship; communication problems exist between the parties; the principal barriers to settlement are personal or emotional; the parties want to tailor a solution to meet specific needs or interests; the case involves complex technical or scientific data requiring particular expertise; the parties have an incentive to settle because of time, cost of ligation, or drain on productivity; the parties wish to retain control over the outcome of the case; or the parties seek a more private forum for the resolution of their dispute. While there is not any case type that could not benefit from mediation, commercial, construction, products liability, environmental and Law Against Discrimination (LAD) cases, as well as General Equity and Probate cases, are particularly suited to mediation because they tend to exhibit some of the characteristics described above.

Sometimes the parties are unable to reach agreement, or only agree on certain aspects of the dispute. If certain aspects remain unresolved, the parties may submit that portion to an expert for an opinion (binding or non-binding) or use some other creative means to resolve the case. The case can also be returned to court, and continue on track toward trial. Even in the cases that do not settle, the mediation process may have helped the parties move closer toward an ultimate settlement.

Mr. Vanarelli is approved under the New Jersey Court Rules as a mediator in family and divorce matters, and civil, equity and probate litigation. He is on the Administrative Office of the Courts’ roster of mediators for civil cases, and for the mediation of the economic aspects of family law cases. Mr. Vanarelli completed intensive training and supervised internships in Advanced Elder Mediation and Divorce Mediation. He has successfully mediated many court-referred cases to settlement which would have otherwise continued in litigation.