Disputing would like to invite you to read an informative blog post published by Professor Kristen Blankley, Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law, entitled “Oregon Supreme Court Holds Pre-Mediation Communications Not Protected.” In her post, Professor Blankley discusses a recent Oregon Supreme Court decision holding that pre-mediation communications which take place outside of the “mediation process” are not “mediation communications.”
According to Professor Blankley:
Arguably, this case reaches the right result in this case, but does so in a way that highly jeopardizes the mediation process in almost every situation other than cases of legal malpractice. The difficulty in this case stems from the fact that the Oregon statute does not have an exception to confidentiality for claims of attorney malpractice. Such exception exists for cases of mediator malpractice, but not attorney malpractice. ORS 36.222(5).
Interestingly, Oregon is not a state that has enacted the Uniform Mediation Act. You may read more about Professor Blankley’s thoughts on the case on Indisputably.
Photo credit: BAKOKO via Foter.com / CC BY-ND
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