Suspicion in preferred group of "mediators" being overly used in current Sandy claim disputes has Magistrate Judge outraged
U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown slammed attorneys for Wright National Flood Insurance Co. and policyholders for informing the court on Oct. 3 they hadn’t retained a mediator in four individual cases.
“The reasons that counsel has repeatedly selected the same handful of mediators despite the panoply of choices available must, at this juncture, remain in the realm of speculation,” Judge Brown wrote. “[K]nowing that there are hundreds of cases to be sent to mediation over the next few months, continually choosing the same small group of mediators represents, at a minimum, poor planning by counsel who are aware of the time and resource constraints facing the participants.”
Judge Brown also criticized the parties’ request that the court rank and assign mediators, noting the court conducted, ”at considerable expense and effort,” a training program to add scores of new mediators for Sandy-related cases