CMADRESS - ONE YEAR OLD AND GOING STRONG

By Paul Bielaczyc
Background and history
Attorneys in Santa Barbara have by now, after more than a year of operation, bec
ome readily familiar with the name of the new CADRe program, CMADRESS (Case Mana
gement Alternative Dispute Resolution Early Settlement Session). This program w
as spearheaded by Judge J. William McLafferty and the ADR Committee of the Santa
Barbara Court. After many months of planning and successful application for fu
nding from the Administrative Office of the Courts in Sacramento, the CMADRESS p
rogram can now be considered a success after its first full year.
The administration of the CMADRESS program by the court was delegated to the CAD
Re office. Many facilitators who already qualified as CADRe neutrals volunteere
d to participate for assignment in the CMADRESS program. Therefore, not all CAD
Re neutrals receive CMADRESS assignments. The assignments are handled by the CA
DRe director.
Report card after one year running
Meetings were recently conducted seeking feedback in response to the CMADRESS pr
ogram from the local bar and participating facilitators. The overall consensus
of opinion was favorable for the CMADRESS program. Current funding from the gran
t has been able to sustain the program. One new change created was to extend th
e amount of time to complete the CMADRESS from 45 days to 60 days after assignme
nt of the neutral. This will allow all sides to become better prepared for the s
ession and will also accommodate some scheduling obstacles. Also, if additional
time is needed beyond this 60 day period, it will now be the responsibility of t
he parties to obtain permission to conduct the CMADRESS beyond this deadline. Fo
rmerly, it was the responsibility of the assigned facilitator to obtain addition
al time to conduct the CMADRESS.
The CADRe website maintains statistics on all the CMADRESS case assignments. Thi
s includes, among many other items, the number of cases that have been assigned
to CMADRESS for both North and South County, the number that have been completed
, the number that have segued into mediation subsequent to the Early Settlement
Session and reached agreement and those that have also segued into mediation sub
sequent to the Early Settlement Session but have ended in no agreement. These st
atistics are regularly updated.
The statistics speak to the success of the CMADRESS program for both the North a
nd South County. More cases have been referred to the CMADRESS program in the S
outh County giving it a numerical, statistical advantage. However, review of th
e statistics for both locations shows that during the course of one year, more a
nd more cases are resolving by way of the CMADRESS program.
Your new case and CMADRESS
Assignment to CMADRESS begins at a Case Management Conference of any civil case.
CMADRESS is used for all civil litigation cases determined by the court to hav
e a value in excess of $50,000.00. CMADRESS is not used with family law matters
. At the time of the CMC when the case is ordered to CMADRESS, the parties can
also expect that the court will set a Mandatory Settlement Conference date as we
ll as a corresponding Trial date.
Once ordered to CMADRESS, all sides must move promptly to contact the CADRe offi
ce within a specific time frame (10 days) for assignment of a neutral. The dead
line imposed by the court to complete the CMADRESS session is now 60 days from a
ssignment of the neutral and this change should be reflected in all future Case
Management orders. Similar to the CADRe Limited Mediation assignment, once a fa
cilitator is assigned to the CMADRESS case, the parties and attorneys must initi
ate contact with the facilitator to schedule a session. When the scheduling is
arranged within the time line allowed by the court, the parties must notify the
CADRe office of the date, time and place of the session.
In attempting to schedule the CMADRESS session, if the parties and/or attorneys
find they are unable to conduct the session within the courtâ s 60 day deadline, a
request for an extension of time can be made. This request must explain briefly
the reason for the delay and the need for more time. Approval is obtained from
the Settlement Conference judge only, not the trial assigned judge. This rule a
pplies to cases in the North as well as South County. The request should also s
pecify the exact quantity of additional time by advising the court of the future
CMADRESS session date. The extension of time to complete CMADRESS does not app
ly to the MSC or Trial date. Those will remain unchanged if the court approves
the request for an extension of time to conduct a CMADRESS session. Continuances
of the MSC and/or Trial Dates must be directed to the assigned Trial Judge and
should be joined in by the assigned neutral.
Participating in the CMADRESS
Conducting the CMADRESS for all intents and purposes is the same or similar to t
hat of any Mandatory Settlement Conference or Mediation. The necessary parties
with full settlement authority are required to attend. Telephonic appearances w
ill not be allowed. The designated Trial attorney for each side is also require
d to attend the CMADRESS. All sides are encouraged to submit briefs to the faci
litator so to better understand the facts of the case.
During the CMADRESS, the facilitator will discuss with all sides CMADRESS, the A
DR process and alternative ADR methods available. This will include costs of di
scovery for alternative ADR methods as well as costs of discovery for Trial and
eventual Trial costs. The facilitator is paid by the court for the three hour C
MADRESS session. Thereafter, if the parties and attorneys agree to use an alter
nate ADR method enlisting the services of the assigned facilitator, payment to t
his neutral becomes the responsibility of the litigants. The parties and/or att
orneys are also entitled to arrange for someone other than the assigned CMADRESS
facilitator should they intend to pursue other alternate ADR methods in lieu of
or in addition to the CMADRESS session. In the event of either of those two opt
ions, a stipulation on the CADRe form must be fully completed, signed and submit
ted to the CADRe office for approval by the Court and filing, and the parties wi
ll be responsible for the facilitatorâ s fees.
At the conclusion of the CMADRESS session, the facilitator serves and files a CM
ADRESS report with the court listing those in attendance, whether any future ADR
is being considered, if any extensions of time will be necessary, and if the to
pics of ADR and Trial including discovery and costs of litigation were discussed
. The parties and/or attorneys are requested to complete a CMADRESS evaluation
of the neutral to be returned to the CADRe office.
Conclusion
In summary, after one year, the CMADRESS program hit the ground running and has
performed successfully, in many cases, beyond the expectations of the local bar
and the court. There is ongoing fine tuning to be made by the ADR committee of
the Superior Court. This can only be done with future public bar input. It is
the hope of the ADR committee that the current success of the program will resul
t in future funding from the AOC in Sacramento for this court and, perhaps, othe
r Courts in California, as this is a pilot program for all of the State Courts.
____________________________________________________________
Paul Bielaczyc is an Attorney, an Arbitrator and a Mediator focusing his ADR eff
orts on all areas of general civil litigation. He is an approved panelist for th
e Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Superior Court Mediation programs.
You may call Tri-County Mediation at (805) 565-8725 for more information or to v
iew the profile of Mr. Bielaczyc, go on-line to http://www.tricomediate.com or b
y going to the Santa Barbara County Superior Court CADRe website at http://www.s
bcadre.org/bielaczyc.htm.