District Court Rules 2005

This rule applies if the Court makes a case management direction that directs any parties to confer with a mediator.

The direction does not operate as a stay of proceedings unless the Court orders otherwise.

Unless the Court has specified a time and place for the conference, the parties must take any steps necessary and obey any relevant case management directions to ensure that it takes place without delay.

Unless a registrar or a judge orders or directs otherwise, a party must attend the conference in person or, if the party is a body corporate, by an agent who is authorised by the body to conduct settlement negotiations and to settle the case.

Each party’s costs of and incidental to the conference shall be the party’s costs in the cause, unless the Court orders, or the parties agree, otherwise.

The remuneration and expenses of a mediator who is not a registrar are to be paid by the parties in equal shares, unless the Court orders, or the parties agree, otherwise.

Within 2 weeks after the conclusion of the conference, the party ordered by the Court to do so must file a report signed by or on behalf of the parties concerned —

confirming that the conference took place as directed; and

recording the substance of any resolution or narrowing of the differences between the parties achieved as a result of the conference.

The mediator —

must not, unless the parties agree, report to the Court about the conference;

whether or not the parties agree, may report to the Court any failure by a party to cooperate in the conference.

A report made under subrule (8)(b) must not be disclosed to the trial judge except for the purposes of determining any question as to costs or as to the remuneration and expenses of a mediator.

Rule 41, other than subrule (3), applies to the conference as if any reference in it to a pre‑trial conference were a reference to the conference.