Can I Bring A Court Reporter to Mediation?

Matthew Brickman:

Hi, I’m Matthew Brickman, Florida Supreme court mediator. Welcome to the Mediate This! Podcast where we discuss everything mediation and conflict resolution.

(00:16):
Hi. Today I want to answer a question from, an actual mediation client that sent me an email and asked, can I bring a court reporter to our mediation session so that they can write down everything that is said so that I can use that later if necessary? And, um, I replied back to them and told them that the answer is no. You cannot bring a court reporter to mediation. Because the mediation process itself is a private and confidential process. It is a place where we can openly have discussions, talk about issues, negotiate terms, and in the event that two people are not able to reach a resolution and they choose to go to court, well, nobody can talk about what we talked about in mediation, and that really helps people be open and honest in their negotiations trying to reach a resolution. Also, for myself, what that means is I am not able to tell the court what happened.

(01:24):
So, for example, if you come to mediation and you resolve your issue, I am required to file a mediation conference report. The conference report would say that the parties attended mediation, the parties paid for mediation, and the parties reached a resolution. If you come to mediation and are not able to reach a resolution, then the conference report would say the parties came to mediation, the parties paid for mediation, and the parties were not able to reach an agreement. Um, if you come to mediation and you need to push, pause and come back, well then it would say that the parties came to mediation, the parties paid for mediation, and the parties agreed to adjourn at this time, or they agree to a continuance, that’s all the court can get from me. They can’t get well in mediation. They were not able to reach an agreement because the wife offered this and the husband said this, and then the father said this, and the mother said this, and going back and forth, no, mediation is a private and confidential process, so you cannot bring a court reporter to mediation.

(02:34):
Now, when would you use a court reporter? You would use a court reporter, say, in a deposition. An attorney would have a court reporter in a deposition to write down everything because a deposition is a, uh, a, a legal process where you are asked questions that are being recorded so that then later in trial, if they ask those same questions, they can see if, if a person may be lying or, uh, or whatnot, because then they will use the transcript from the deposition to then try to get to the bottom of the truth in a court of law. The other place where you would have a court reporter is in a court of law. So in trial, you would have a court reporter that would be actually writing down what everybody says, what the judge says, what the attorneys say, what the people say, what everybody says is they’ve written down.

(03:31):
So in a deposition or in a trial, you would have a court reporter, but you would not have one in mediation because mediation is a process that is private and confidential and nothing can be shared. Nothing can be used. Um, if people cannot reach an agreement. The only thing in mediation that is not confidential is if I as the mediator find out that, uh, somebody is committing a crime or abusing somebody. That is not confidential. But other than that, everything in mediation that is discussed is confidential, so no court reporters can be brought to mediation.

Matthew Brickman:
Occasionally Sydney and I will be releasing Q&A bonus episodes where we’ll answer your questions and give you a personal shoutout.

Sydney Mitchell:
If you have a comment or question regarding anything that we discuss, email us at info@ichatmediation.com that’s info@ichatmediation.com and stay tuned to hear your shout out and have your question answered here on the show.

Matthew Brickman:

For more information about my services or to schedule your mediation with me, either in person or using my iChatMediation Virtual Platform built by Cisco Communications. Visit me online at www.iMediateInc.com. Call me at 561-262-9121, Toll-Free at 877-822-1479 or email me at MBrickman@iChatMediation.com.