Civil Dispute Resolutions

Judicial Determination  Judicial determination is when a dispute is resolve by a third party Judge. This is done in the Supreme or County courts for matters over $100,000, in the Magistrate’s court for matters under $100,000 and by arbitration for matters less than $10,000.  Why do you think someone would choose Supreme over County (think precedents)?  Why do you think someone would choose County over Supreme?

What is the alternative?  Tell the class about the alternative dispute resolution that you investigated.

Mediation  This may be done at the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria.  People use mediation to come up with a resolution between themselves. It is a cheaper alternative and allows the parties to have more control over their situation. In mediation the third party does not make any suggestions to how the matter can be resolved they only facilitate it.  The final agreement is not binding but if the parties do not follow the agreement they will need to go to court to settle the dispute.

Conciliation  Conciliation is a step up from mediation as the third party listens and makes suggestions. An example would be a discrimination case which is sent to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.  If an agreement does not resolve the matter the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the Anti-Discrimination List) steps in and makes a binding decision.

Arbitration  Arbitration is used for issues in the Magistrate’s Court that are under $10,000. Arbitration again tries to help the parties to reach an agreement but if an agreement is not met the third party makes the decision.  This is a little more informal compared to a court hearing but the decision is binding.  As legal representation can be used in this situation the cost can become very high.

Collaborative Law  Both parties sign a contract to achieve and outcome with Lawyers outside of court.  All discussions through these alternative resolution methods cannot be used as evidence in court.

Exercise  Do question 5 on page 271  Write a comparison between (mediation and conciliation) and (arbitration and judicial determination). Include a discussion about advantages and disadvantages between the two methods.  When you are asked to write a comparison of two concepts you need to give a description of the features of each. You then need to talk about the similarities and differences and what the purposes of each concept is. Remember to use TEE. This should be given to me in some way so that I can give you feedback.