Order issued February 6 , 2018

In The 

## Court of Appeals
For The 

## First District of Texas

NO. 01

- 17

- 00203

- CV

TERRI PORTER GARCIA , Appellant

V.

THE TRAVIS LAW FIRM, P.C. , Appellee

On Appeal from 334th District Court Harris County, Texas Tri al Court Cause No. 2017

- 04314



### MEMORANDUM ORDER OF REFERRAL TO MEDIATION

The Court determines that it is appropriate to refer this appeal for resolution

by mediation. See T EX

. C IV

. P RAC

. & R EM

. C ODE A NN

. §§ 154.021, 154 .022(a),

154.023 (Vernon 2011 ). At oral argument, both parties waived objections to

mediation. We accordingly refer this case to mediation.The parties shall choose a qualified mediator and agree on a reasonable fee

for the mediator’s services. 1 See id. §§ 154.052, 154.054(a) (Vernon 2011)

. The Court sets the following deadlines:

• No later than 15 days from the date that this order is issued, the parties shall file with the Clerk of this Court a completed “Parties’ Notif ication to Court of Mediator.” This document can be downloaded from the forms page of the Court’s website at http://www.txcourts.gov/1stcoa

.

• No later than 45 days from the date that this order is issued, the parties shall conduct the mediation.

• No later than two days f rom the conclusion of the mediation, the parties and the mediator shall advise the Clerk of this Court in writing whether the parties did or did not settle the underlying dispute.

All parties, or their representative with full settlement authority, shall attend

th e mediation with their counsel. The mediator shall encourage and assist the

parties in reaching a settlement of their dispute, but may not compel or coerce the

parties to ent er into a settlement agreement. See id. § 154.053(a) (Vernon 2011).

All communications relating to the mediation are confidential and not subject to

disclosu re, except as set forth by law. See id. § 154.073 (Vernon 2011). The Clerk

1 The Cour t does not recommend mediators. Mediation information is available from the Dispute Resolution Center of Harris County ((713) 755

- 8274 and https://drc.harriscountytx.gov/ ), the Fort Bend Dispute Resolution Center ((281) 342

- 5000), the Alternate Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Texas ( http://www.texasadr.org/ ), and other groups. The parties are not required to use a mediator recommended or li sted by these groups.of this Court, however, will file this order and the completed “Parties’ Notification

to Court of Mediator” with the other documents filed in this appeal that are

available for public inspection.

Unless expressly authorized by the disclosing party, the mediator may not

disclose to either party information given in confidence by the other and shall at all

times maintain confidentiality with respect to communications relating to the

subject matter of the dispute. See id. § 154.053(b). Unless the parties agree

otherwise, all matters, including the conduct and demeanor of the parties and their

counsel d uring the settlement process, are confidential and may never be disclosed

t o anyone, including this Court. See id. § 154.053(c).

The Court will consider the agreed fee for the mediator’s services to be

reasonable and tax that fee as a cost of the appeal u nless the parties agre e to

another method of payment. See id. § 154.054.

Justice’s signature: /s/ Jennifer Caughey

Acting for the Court

Panel consists of: Justices Jennings, Massengale, and Caughey

Date: February 6 , 2018