## NUMBER 13

- 2 1

- 00 148

- CV

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI

– EDINBURG

LOIS HOLLMAN

, A ppellant

,

v.

KLEBERG COUNTY, TEXAS

, A ppellee

.

On a ppeal from the 105 th District Court

of Kleberg County, Texas.



## O RDER OF ABATEMENT AND

REFERRING CASE TO MEDIATION

Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justice s Benavides and Silva

Order Per Curiam

This cause is before the Court on a joint motion to abate for mediaton

. Upon review

of said motion, the Court has determined that it should be granted

. Accordingly, it is

ORDERED that this appeal be ABATED and this case be mediated under the following

terms and conditions:

1. The parties must promptly agree upon a mediator and, within fourteen days of this Order, notify the Court in writing of the name2 and address of the mediator selected. If the parties are unable to agree upon a mediator, they must so notify the Court within the

fourteen

- day period and the Court will appoint a mediator.

2. All parties must confer with their mediator within fourteen days of the date of this Order, or in the case of a court appointed mediator, within fourteen days of the appointment of the mediator, to establish a date and place for the mediation. The parties shall agree on a date for the

mediation that is consistent with the mediator’s schedule and is no

later than th irty days after the date of this Order. In the event the parties cannot agree on a date, the mediator shall select and set a date. The mediator shall notify the Court of the date selected for the

mediation.

3. In the discretion of the mediator, each par ty may be required to provide a confidential memorandum and/or information sheet setting forth the issues of the case and their positions on these issues. Additionally, upon request of the mediator, the parties shall produce

all information the mediator de ems necessary to understand the

issues of the case. The memorandum and/or information sheet and other information produced to the mediator will not be made a part of the file in this case and will be destroyed by the mediator at the

conclusion of the media tion proceeding.

4. All parties to this matter or their authorized representatives, accompanied by their counsel, must appear and attend the mediation proceeding. In accordance with the Supreme Court of Texas’s Emergency Order s Regarding the Covid

- 19 St ate of Disaster, the parties may elect to attend the mediation remotely by

teleconference or videoconference. The mediation shall be for a full day.

5. Mediation is a mandatory, non

- binding settlement conference

conducted with the assistance of a media tor. The mediation proceeding will be confidential within the meaning of the Texas Civil

Practice and Remedies Code sections 154.053 and 154.073.

6. Unless otherwise agreed, the mediation proceeding will not be

recorded.

7. The mediator will negotiate a reasonable fee with the parties. The mediator’s fee will be borne equally by the parties unless otherwise agreed by the parties and will be paid directly to the mediator. If the parties do not agree upon the fee requested by the mediator, the

court will set a reasonable fee, which shall be taxed as costs. Id. § 154.054.3 8. Within two days after the conclusion of the mediation, the mediator shall certify to this Court as follows: (a) whether the parties appeared as ordered; (b) whether the case settled; and (c) whether the mediation fees were paid in accordance with the court ’ s order or as otherwise agreed by the parties.

9. If mediation fully resolves the issues in this case, the parties must file a joint or agreed motion seeking dispositive relief w ithin fourteen days of the conclusion of the mediation. If the parties need more time to effectuate the terms of the settlement agreement, they must, within fourteen days of the conclusion of mediation, file a joint or agreed

motion for an extension of tim e to file their disposition motion.

It is FURTHER ORDERED that this case is ABATED pending this Court’s review

of the mediator’s report and further order of this Court.

PER CURIAM

Delivered and filed the

24 th day of August, 2021.