{"id":895934,"date":"2019-05-29T11:15:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T17:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895934"},"modified":"2019-05-29T11:15:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T17:15:45","slug":"court-enforces-contract-agreement-mediation-before-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-enforces-contract-agreement-mediation-before-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Enforces Contractual Agreement for Mediation Before Filing Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Gregory M. Boucher | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saul.com\/blogs\/construction-industry-counselor\/court-enforces-contractual-agreement-mediation-filing-lawsuit\">Construction Industry Counselor<\/a> | May 24, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Construction contracts often contain agreements requiring mediation before a party may file a lawsuit.&nbsp; However, a party may not want to wait through the mediation process and instead may prefer to go straight to a lawsuit.&nbsp; Given that mediation is not binding and does not guarantee a resolution, can a party ignore a contractual agreement to mediate and instead go right to litigation?&nbsp; A recent Kentucky federal court decision said no, a party cannot ignore a previous contractual agreement to mediate. See&nbsp;<em>Mitsui Mumitomo Insurance USA, Inc. v.&nbsp; Denham-Blythe Company Inc., et al<\/em>., No. 5:18-CV-152-JHM, 2019 WL 1938791 (E.D. Ky. May 1, 2019).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Mitsui, an owner and design-builder entered into an AIA A141-2004 construction contract that contained several provisions designed to avoid litigation: an initial decision maker, mediation, and then arbitration (in that order).&nbsp; Because the parties failed to identify an initial decision maker, the design-builder argued that none of the ADR provisions applied and filed a lawsuit in lieu of mediation or arbitration.&nbsp; The&nbsp;<em>Mitsui&nbsp;<\/em>court ruled that the lack of an initial decision maker did not invalidate the parties\u2019 agreement for mediation and arbitration, and, as a result, dismissed the lawsuit.&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This case is a reminder for parties to a construction contract to give careful consideration to a contract\u2019s ADR and other dispute resolution provisions before signing a contract and to closely review a contract\u2019s dispute resolution provisions before filing a lawsuit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gregory M. Boucher | Construction Industry Counselor | May 24, 2019 Construction contracts often contain agreements requiring mediation before a party may file a lawsuit.&nbsp; However, a party may not want to wait through the mediation process and instead may prefer to go straight to a lawsuit.&nbsp; Given that mediation is not binding and does&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-enforces-contract-agreement-mediation-before-lawsuit\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Court Enforces Contractual Agreement for Mediation Before Filing Lawsuit<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[9895,224,79],"class_list":["post-895934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-contracts","category-mediation","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","tag-mediation-2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Court Enforces Contractual Agreement for Mediation Before Filing Lawsuit - Advise &amp; 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