About Mediation
What is mediation?
Mediation is an informal settlement process conducted in a neutral setting with skilled mediator(s). The purpose of mediation is to help you work out a lasting solution to your conflict.
The CCOC uses an experienced volunteer mediator who is familiar with community associations. It may also use a staff investigator, or the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County (who are not affiliated with the CCOC).
Mediators do not take sides, make judgments, assess blame, give legal advice, or tell you what to do, or force you to make decisions. Whatever is said in mediation will be held confidential and cannot be used against a party in any hearing.
Mediators will:
- listen as each of you explain the issues that concern you,
- ask questions to help you and the other person(s) clarify and understand the issues,
- guide participants through a process to brainstorm options and to develop solutions, and
- assist in drawing up an agreement that is satisfactory to all of you.
Why should I try to resolve the dispute in mediation?
Mediation allows you to explain yourself in a way that will probably be more comfortable for you than a formal hearing will be. Mediation is also intended to help the parties resolve a dispute themselves rather than to prove one side right or wrong. Mediation also helps each party to better understand the other party's position.
Equally important is the fact that mediation is the chance to reach an agreement that gives each party something, even if they don't obtain everything they want. It also helps them to avoid the costs and delay of having to go to a formal hearing, where decisions will be made on the basis of what the law is. In a formal hearing, it is often the case that one party will win everything it wants and the losing party will get nothing. And, in some cases, the CCOC hearing panel might order the losing party to pay the legal fees of the winning party. Such an order can be very expensive.
Mediation is voluntary, but a party that rejects mediation without a very good reason can be penalized by the CCOC. The law allows the CCOC to dismiss a complaint if the complaining party rejects mediation, unless the staff decides that mediation would be futile. If the responding party rejects mediation, the law requires the CCOC to hold a hearing on the complaint at which the responding party is not allowed to present any defense. The CCOC hearing panel also has the power to punish a party who refuses to participate in mediation without a good reason.
What happens if we reach an agreement to settle?
Any resulting agreement is the resolution you and the others make to resolve your dispute. You will receive a copy of the agreement at the end of the mediation process. Mediation agreements are contracts and can be enforced in court by the parties like any other contract. The CCOC cannot enforce mediation agreements.
If the mediation agreement is intended to be a full resolution of the CCOC complaint, then the complaint will be closed as resolved once the agreement is signed. In that case, the CCOC will not be involved in any disputes over whether the agreement is carried out.
However, if the parties do not want the CCOC case closed until the mediation agreement is carried out, the agreement should say that the dispute is not resolved until both parties have done what they promised to do, and that the complaining party can still ask for a hearing on its original complaint if the responding party does not honor the agreement.
What happens if we don't settle?
You won’t be punished if you try in good faith to resolve the dispute but can't reach any satisfactory agreement. The hearing panel will not usually be concerned with why a mediation failed or what happened at the mediation.
If the mediation fails, normally the next step is for the full CCOC to vote on whether it has jurisdiction over the complaint. The CCOC might vote to dismiss the complaint without a hearing because it believes that the law does not give it any authority over the dispute. If it does so, it will not refund the filing fee for the complaint.
If the CCOC votes to accept the complaint, it will set a date for a formal hearing. Each party will be expected to present its evidence and prove its case or defense. Hearings can last several hours. Hearing panels will make their own decisions as to what the facts and the law are. Under some circumstances, the hearing panel can require the losing party to pay the winning party’s attorney’s fees (if any) and costs. The hearing panel will make its Decision and Order, have it reviewed by the County Attorney, then send it to both parties by certified mail.