Case Closed

State courts are organizing Settlement Weeks to resolve disputes and prevent backlogs in civil cases. Mediators guide discussions with participants, often avoiding lengthy litigation, minimizing legal costs, and helping them to move on with their lives.

Conflicts sometimes end up in the courts. However, not every dispute needs to go through the full legal process, from filing a complaint to holding a trial. Courts offer different approaches for resolving conflicts. One of them is Settlement Week. The idea is to move cases toward resolution through confidential mediations.

Imagine a situation in which a young man stopped at a red light is rear-ended by a fast-moving truck. Because of his injuries, he receives medical treatment and physical therapy. But he continues to have debilitating headaches, severe back and knee pain, and difficulty finding the right words when speaking. He loses his warehouse job because he can no longer lift the boxes.

He sues the truck driver requesting compensation for his medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The case has been going on for a while, and a multiday trial looks likely. Experts will be expensive, and the young man will need to testify. It’s the type of scenario that would be a good candidate for a court-organized Settlement Week. The event can reduce backlogs in caseloads and help resolve pending legal disputes in civil cases. Courts schedule the cases for mediation during the designated week. The mediator, a neutral third party, guides the parties as they work to resolve their differences.

Several Ohio courts are holding Settlement Week this fall, including the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

John Cruze, the court’s mediation director, said there hadn’t been a Settlement Week during his 18 years at the court. Presiding Judge Wende Cross wanted to give it a try and encouraged the other 15 judges to identify older cases that would be good candidates for possible settlement. Tanner McFall joined the court in July as a full-time mediator, and it was a fast ramp up to launch this year’s event held in early October.

“It was like trying to build a plane, figure out the passengers, and land all at the same time,” Cruze said.

McFall said they identified 17 cases at a point in the legal process where the parties might be open to discussing a settlement. The ones chosen were primarily personal injury cases, such as slip-and-fall or auto accidents. Property damage litigation and a few employment matters were included as well.

Identifying Good Cases Cleans Up Docket and Leads to Resolutions
The vetting process for selecting cases proved to be beneficial in Hamilton County before Settlement Week even began. McFall said more than two dozen cases were found on the court docket that needed simple clerical corrections. Some cases were missing only an entry to make it clear the case had already ended, McFall said. There also were cases that had been combined with others and resolved, but the notation was missed for certain cases that had been consolidated. Those issues were identified because of the preparation done when planning Settlement Week, McFall noted.

“It worked as a purging process, cleaning up the docket,” he said.

Deciding which cases to schedule for Settlement Week is central to an event’s success, according to judges and court staff who have organized the events. At a recent Supreme Court of Ohio roundtable for courts about Settlement Week, Bill Rininger, a Summit County Common Pleas Court magistrate, said it’s important to review cases thoroughly to find the best candidates for potential resolution.

“Take care as you’re scheduling your cases,” said Rininger, who leads the court’s Office of Backlog Reduction. “Figure out what the case is about. How difficult do you think it will be to resolve? What kind of mediator do you need?”

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands explained that the court and the people involved need to have moved through initial steps in the legal process before a case can be viewed as a promising one for Settlement Week. That typically means, for example, that important discovery has been completed, making the parties more likely to be ready to talk, she said.

“Judges or their magistrate or judicial attorney need to have the experience to recognize when a case is ‘ripe’ for settlement,” Judge Rowlands said. “If the parties are not in a place to agree, it’s not going to work.”

The court held Settlement Week in the past, but not in 12 years. Judge Rowlands wanted to reboot it. The first year back, they chose workers compensation, personal injury, medical malpractice, and legal malpractice cases.

Cases That Don’t Lend Themselves to Settlement
Along with determining suitable cases to include in Settlement Week, McFall and Cruze have found that other types of cases are best kept out. The natural focus is on the oldest cases on the docket, Cruze said. However, they need to be scrutinized to decide whether an agreement could be possible. Complex litigation or cases with numerous parties usually don’t make the cut.

“There is a tension between old cases and appropriate cases,” Cruze explained. “Everyone wants to clear old cases. But sometimes a case has been on the docket for a long time because of its complexity.”

Overall, though, Settlement Week ends up assisting a court with managing its entire docket, Rininger pointed out.

“These cases that would otherwise take up the time of judges or magistrates can be shifted to Settlement Week, allowing judicial staff to focus on the stickier cases that might be more at risk of going over-age,” he said.

Possibilities Emerge for Family Law Matters
Domestic relations courts are also finding success in resolving disputes through Settlement Week. Mediators work with people going through a divorce to decide spousal support and how to divide marital assets. Selected cases also can address disagreements over custody, visitation, and child support.

Judge Randall Fuller leads Settlement Week in Delaware County Domestic Relations Court. When Judge Fuller was elected to a newly added judgeship and took the bench in 2017, there were 89 domestic relations cases pending past guidelines. Settlement Week was one step in addressing the backlog. As he developed the first event for 2018, he couldn’t find an Ohio domestic relations court that had held one. The court had such success with their first event that it was decided to schedule Settlement Week twice a year - in spring and fall. Now, after roughly a dozen Settlement Weeks organized by the court, half of the cases have been fully settled, and 30% arrived at a partial settlement.

“Especially in domestic relations cases, there are much better ways to resolve a family conflict than going to trial,” said Judge Fuller.

A local attorney who practices in Delaware and Franklin counties suggested Settlement Week to the Franklin County Domestic Relations Court. The attorney and Judge Lasheyl Stroud co-chaired a committee to explore the idea, tapping into the experiences of Delaware County. The first Settlement Week in the Franklin County Domestic Relations Court took place in 2021, and it’s now held twice each year.

Judge Stroud said the seven domestic relations judges and 15 magistrates are asked to refer at least two cases each to Settlement Week. They have referred many more than that. In the first session held in 2021, 38 cases were mediated. Judge Stroud said the event helped them to decrease their cases that were over-age at the time.

They currently book about 50 cases for each week. In 2024, a total of 103 cases were mediated during the spring and fall Settlement Weeks, with an 82% full or partial settlement reached, she said.

Advantages Include Time Saved, Reduced Costs, and More
There are benefits for all involved when cases are resolved during Settlement Week. Legal fees are avoided, and time is saved, for producing or reviewing materials during discovery, taking depositions of people involved in a dispute, and preparing for trial. Mediators are either volunteers or agree to a reduced hourly fee during Settlement Week. And the timeframes for mediations are often defined as an hour or two. The public sees their cases resolved at lesser cost and usually more quickly, Judge Rowlands said. Plus going to trial before a jury can be risky.

“Settlement Week gives parties control over the outcome,” Judge Rowlands said.

Chris Nolan is a mediator for the Summit County Settlement Week. He has five decades of experience as an attorney in the personal injury arena and mediates those types of disputes for Settlement Week. As an advocate, he had represented people on both sides and knows the experience of taking a case through trial.

“There is a lot of stress on clients in trying a case,” Nolan said. “Settlement Week helps clients to get on with their lives.”

Judge Fuller finds the same is true in domestic relations cases. He noted that going through a divorce is usually one of the worst times in people’s lives. At stake is what's most consequential to people – their children, their home, their finances, their retirement.

“Having finality, being able to move on with your life is one of the most important things,” he said. “Settlement Week helps them achieve that.”

Even if a case doesn’t settle, the discussions often advance the case – moving it forward toward finding a resolution for everyone involved.

“Sometimes Settlement Week is the first conversation where the parties are thinking about resolving the case,” Judge Rowlands said. “It cracks the door open. It starts the conversation.”

Ingredients for Productive Settlement Week
For a successful Settlement Week, court officials point to several essentials:

Plan in advance and be organized. Judges and court staff stressed the value of booking the Settlement Week dates about one year ahead. That enables courts to keep certain spaces in the courthouse available for mediations, alerting judges and magistrates to schedule cases on their regular docket around the Settlement Week dates.

About six months out, court staff begin focusing on the details. Rininger said that’s when they start identifying and scheduling the cases to be considered during the Summit County Settlement Week. He tracks case information, times, locations, and more on a spreadsheet that he keeps refining year after year. 

Judge Brendan Sheehan, the administrative judge for Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, suggested “smart scheduling tactics.” Court staff try to group similar types of cases together. It makes the event more efficient for the parties and mediators. For example, the court will schedule motor vehicle cases on a particular day or place cases with the same insurance companies close together.

Designate a point person. Larry McQuain, court administrator for the Delaware County Domestic Relations Court, recommends designating one person as the coordinator for Settlement Week. That person maintains the spreadsheet, which includes the points of contact for the attorneys, parties, and guardians ad litem, and tracks other important case information. The point person leads the coordination of the dates and blocking space for Settlement Week, he said.

Foster buy-in from internal staff. Many judges, magistrates, and others may not have experienced mediation as a technique for resolving disputes. They sometimes need to be convinced initially that Settlement Week is a good idea. However, those spearheading the efforts find that after the first year, the statistics and the experience turn the most reluctant into fans.

Judge Rowlands said some of her colleagues resisted when she proposed Settlement Week, in part because the courtrooms had to be dedicated to the event for the week. That first year, they settled 67% of the cases mediated – which convinced many that the event was worthwhile.

“This year, Settlement Week was a much easier sell because I could show the value of getting cases off of the docket,” she explained.

Tap contacts within legal community. Getting members of the local bar involved enhances the success of Settlement Week. McFall said they start by contacting local attorneys who view mediation as an effective approach to resolving cases. Those attorneys spread the word among other attorneys, building a level of trust in the event, he said. The court achieved successes. Out of the 17 cases scheduled, six were settled that week. Because of the quick setup of Settlement Week this year, the court extended the event for a few more weeks to include more cases. As a result, a total of 14 disputes were resolved and cleared from the docket, McFall said.

Judge Fuller noted that once the cases were selected for their Settlement Week, court staff fielded concerns from attorneys. Yet after participating in Settlement Week, “they’re now the attorneys who want to be involved in Settlement Week,” he said. In Cuyahoga County, judges refer potential cases to the court’s Dispute Resolution Department. Rebecca Wetzel, who leads the department, said attorneys who have seen success over the years now actively suggest cases to judges for the event.

Personal outreach can build involvement, too. In Summit County, court staff send emails about the event. But Judge Rowlands noted the volume of emails that people receive makes it challenging to get the attention of busy attorneys. So, she called attorneys to tell them personally about the program – which raised awareness of the event.

Set up strategies to avoid ‘no-shows.’ McQuain noted that attorneys occasionally tell them their case doesn’t need to be on the Settlement Week schedule because the parties are close to a resolution. While possibly accurate, the court issues an order requiring attorneys to appear at Settlement Week. If a case actually settles a few days before the event begins, the court can be notified of the resolution and documents filed. But the court order to appear avoids “call offs” at the last minute in cases assigned to Settlement Week, McQuain said.

Rininger added that “no-shows” can be minimized by effective communication among the court, mediators, and attorneys. Cases might be dismissed or settled ahead of time, or an illness could prevent a mediator from participating. Rininger emphasized staying in regular contact with all those involved, updating them along the way.

He said some no-shows occurred last year because people couldn’t find the correct location in the courthouse for their mediation. Attorneys and parties were sitting outside the wrong courtroom. This year, a centralized help desk was set up near the courthouse entrance to guide people to the right location.

“As a result, we had no no-shows this year,” he said.

Consider small amenities. Snacks were mentioned by all as a fun perk. In Summit County, Judge Rowlands’ jury room is transformed into a hospitality suite for the mediators. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are provided. Mediators can also get their parking validated.

Judge Stroud noted that her court had no money budgeted the first year they held Settlement Week. They relied on a discretionary fund to purchase a few snacks. Larger conference rooms were booked for the mediations. And they were able to adapt forms already developed by Delaware County for its Settlement Week.

“It’s possible to start with whatever you have already,” Judge Stroud said.

Deputy Court Administrator Andrea Kinast at the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court said it’s important to just start somewhere.

“Don’t overcomplicate the process for yourself,” Kinast said. “Start small, and you will build momentum in your court, and it will pick up over time.”

Spread the word. Courts leverage an array of options to let attorneys and the public know about Settlement Week. In Summit County, they created a QR code linking to more information and placed it in email communications and press releases, on the court’s website and social media, and on signage throughout the courthouse. Judge Rowlands appeared on “Good Morning Cleveland” for a news piece about Settlement Week and was interviewed by Akron Legal News. Judge Stroud recorded a commercial at the Columbus Bar Association as outreach to the legal community. In Cuyahoga County, Wetzel said in past years they did a “tweet a day” on X – such as, “Dialogue is the most effective way of resolving conflict” – and used a Settlement Week hashtag.

Rely on expertise of other courts. Courts that have organized Settlement Weeks have tested and refined their processes and forms. Asking for their guidance can accelerate the organization of a new Settlement Week. The Supreme Court of Ohio also has compiled resources in the Dispute Resolution Section of its website, including many sample forms.

When judges were asked what surprised them when implementing Settlement Week, they pointed to how well it works.

Judge Fuller said, “When we were having case after case after case settle, we knew halfway through our first Settlement Week, it was a success and something we would continue doing.”

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Design: Ely Margolis

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