Resolving Your Dispute Through a Mediation Center
Community mediation offers constructive processes for resolving differences and conflicts between individuals, groups, and organizations. It is an alternative to avoidance, destructive confrontation, prolonged litigation or violence. It gives people in conflict an opportunity to take responsibility for the resolution of their dispute and control of the outcome. Community mediation is designed to preserve individual interests while strengthening relationships and building connections between people and groups, and create processes that make communities work for all of us.
-National Association for Community Mediation
Ohio has over eleven million citizens, and on occasion they have disputes with one another. Many of these disputes are resolved in formal legal settings before magistrates or judges, but a growing number are also being resolved at one of Ohio’s community mediation centers.
If you have a dispute for which you are considering requesting mediation, but you’re not sure if it is typical or appropriate, please consider the following. Below are some examples of situations that are often resolved in mediation. This should not in any way be considered a complete list; compiling a list of all the kinds of conflicts resolved with the assistance of a neutral third party, a mediator, would be an extensive undertaking. Rather, this should be seen as an indication of the broad range of problems that may well yield to the process of organized problem solving known as mediation.
DOMESTIC: Divorcing couples can mediate parenting issues such as financial support, health insurance, time spent with each parent, educational choices, emergency procedures, vacations, and other items that must be decided when parents separate. Perhaps these issues might be decided [or revisited] years after the divorce because the children are now older - school age or driving-age teenagers - or because of a significant change in one or both parents’ earnings, or because a parent is moving out of town or state.
Parent-child conflicts may be resolved in mediation. Because mediation is not a disciplinary hearing, the child is treated with respect and offered an opportunity to share his or her perspective and concerns, and to work cooperatively with the parent to seek a mutually acceptable solution.
Families may be able to resolve disputes over elements of wills or estates. Since many such disagreements are over funds or objects of value, mediation works well because it provides a forum where the search for a mutually acceptable, equitable settlement is encouraged, and where the parties design their own solution, rather than have one imposed upon them.
SMALL BUSINESS OR SMALL CLAIMS: Some examples of such disputes that can be mediated: Repairs not made; repairs made poorly or not on time; unnecessary repairs; product or service failure; warranty acceptance and expiration; advertised prices or discounts; damages to property; failure to fully pay a bill or to refund as agreed.
NEIGHBORHOOD OR COMMUNITY: Citizens can come into conflict with each other over situations which have a relatively low dollar value but are nevertheless annoying and upsetting. It may be difficult or time consuming to get such matters before a judge, while mediation offers a readily available process to seek a mutually acceptable solution. These could include property damage from a car, a pet, neighbor’s children, or a tree. People can disagree about sharing apple trees or parking spaces or about the right time to start a lawnmower or how loud to play radios outside.
Communities may have conflicts over the siting or expansion of social service organizations such as homeless shelters or drug rehabilitation houses, over the location or expansion of fast food restaurants, car washes, or even parking lots. Such zoning and land use issues often involve multiple stakeholders, are hard to schedule quickly in court, and the delay can have significant financial impact and long-term effects on relationships. Mediation offers quicker access to a resolution process, and the possibility of reaching a resolution that is acceptable to all.
LANDLORD/TENANT: Many of the disputes successfully resolved in community mediation centers, especially in communities with large college student populations, are about landlord/tenant issues, including: payment and refund of security deposits; charges for damage; late rent charges; promised but not completed improvements or repairs; quality of improvements or repairs; rents and other costs regarding moving in and moving out dates; installation of phones; use of phones and other utilities; utility bills.
TRAINING: Some people come community mediation centers to learn basic mediation skills or to build their skills and experience as mediators. Others take such training to be familiar with the theories of dispute resolution and to apply them as appropriate in their employment. Ohio offers numerous training venues, many of which are listed in the Commission’s Directory Of Court and Not-For Profit Programs and under Upcoming Training and Conferences on this web site.
Click here to view a roster of Community Mediation Centers in Ohio
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