🎶 “This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius [for Bankruptcy Mediation]”🎶 — A New Jersey Example

By Donald L. Swanson

“🎶Harmony and understanding,  Sympathy and trust abounding, . . . Aquarious🎶“

                —The Fifth Dimension

The year is 1968.  The musical “Hair” debuts on Broadway, with the self-assurance of those who have thrown off the norms of prior generations.  Aquarius is now here, we are assured.

I’m not sure what happened.  Perhaps Jupiter didn’t align quite-right with Mars.   Or maybe the moon couldn’t figure out where the “seventh house” might be.  

Whatever the explanation, the peace-love idealism of 1968 is confronted by five decades of reality.  The Age of Aquarius still seems far away.   

The Dawning of Mediation

But if, back in 1968, the “dawning” song had been talking about mediation, it would have been accurate–both as to, (1) creating harmony and sympathy, and (2) the beginning of extensive use. 

–As the 1970s and 1980s progress, mediation is beginning to be a common tool for resolving civil lawsuits. 

–Since then, mediation has become a primary means of resolving suits in a most courts.

Bankruptcy Mediation Catching Up

Bankruptcy is an exception to the history of mediation progression.  For the final two decades of the last century / millennium, bankruptcy courts had little use for mediation.

–But, since then, that has been changing.

–Mediation of bankruptcy disputes is starting to catch up with mediation in other civil courts.

A New Jersey Example

An example of this catch-up is in the New Jersey Bankruptcy Court.

For many years, non-bankruptcy courts in New Jersey have had “presumptive mediation” rules.  Here’s what that means: 

–rules of procedure require that mediation occur before a case is tried, unless an exception applies. 

–It’s presumed that mediation will occur in every case.

New Jersey attorneys, in courts other than bankruptcy, are accustomed to presumptive mediation rules, and they plan their case strategies around the mediation requirement.

So, in 2014, the New Jersey Bankruptcy Court decides to catch up with other courts and adopts “presumptive mediation” rules for adversary proceedings.       

 Here is the operative rule language:

“Every adversary proceeding will be referred to mediation,” unless an exception applies.

Specified exceptions are for cases involving pro se litigants, requesting a TRO or preliminary injunction, being initiated by the US Trustee, or involving requests to be excused.

In July of 2016, a New Jersey bankruptcy attorney / former bankruptcy judge (Raymond Lyons) reports that the New Jersey bankruptcy bar “has accepted” presumptive mediation, “after some initial grumbling,” and that “both the bench and bar are happy with” presumptive mediation.

What we see in New Jersey is an example of bankruptcy courts catching up, on use of mediation, with other courts that have, for many years, been using mediation as a primary case-resolution tool.

Conclusion

The Age of Mediation Aquarius has been around for decades in many non-bankruptcy courts.  The Age of Aquarius for bankruptcy mediation is dawning, as well.