ADR Local Rules Decisions

These orders provide important guidance on issues regarding ADR confidentiality and attorney conduct which the ADR Magistrate Judge and the ADR Program legal staff believe will be helpful to counsel and parties appearing in the Northern District of California.

ADR Local Rules Decision 09-001 (.pdf) (admonishing counsel for violating ADR Local Rules by submitting unsigned, redlined settlement agreement prepared in mediation to trial judge in effort to enforce settlement).

In re Prohibition Against Disclosing ENE Communications to Settlement Judges, 494 F.Supp. 2d 1097 (N.D. Cal. 2007) (.pdf) (under ADR Local Rules 5-12 and 7-5, in the absence of stipulation, a party may not disclose to a settlement judge any communication made in connection with an ENE or any view expressed by the evaluator).

GTE Directories Service v. Pacific Bell Directory, 135 FRD 187 (N.D. Cal. 1991)(.pdf) (sharing of a document with opponent in connection with an ENE session does not constitute a waiver of the document’s otherwise privileged status).