In the past few weeks I have mediated several cases where the attorneys told me this case will never settle, or the other side is really difficult and they will never agree to anything. They said mediation would not work, yet all the cases below settled. Mediation is about creativity, being heard, and being understood.
The attorneys could not get a half-day mediation scheduled before trial date. I agreed to do an even shorter mediation time of 2 1/2 hours with the agreement that if I felt the case could settle they would reset the trial date and return for a half-day mediation. Despite both attorneys being late to this mediation and the time crunch, this case settled in the 2 1/2 hour mark.
I was told that one party was difficult to work with because they would not provide the needed documents. After speaking with that party, we recessed mediation for 2 days so that the party could provide the necessary information. A few phone calls during mediation to get clarification on some terms and that case settled.
I was told that one party was difficult to work with and would never agree to anything. In the end, I put the two parties in a room together (almost never heard of in family law mediations) and the case settled.