### NUMBER 13

- 1 8

- 00 562

- CV



## COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI

- EDINBURG

____________________________________________________

ALBERT MENDEZ

, Appellant,

v.

MARION SOTO

, Appellee.



## ______________________________________ ______________

On appeal from the County Court at Law No. 5

of Nueces County, Texas.



## ____________________________________________________

ORDER REFERRING CASE TO MEDIATION

The Court has determined that this case should be referred to mediation prior to briefing. T EX

. C IV

. P RAC

. & R EM

. C ODE A NN

. § § 154.001

- .073 ( West, Westlaw through 2018

1st C.S. ). Accordingly, it is ORDERED that this case be mediated under the following

terms and conditions:

1. The parties must promptly agree upon a mediator and, within seven days of this Order, notify the Court in writing of the name and address of the mediator selected. If the parties are unable to agree upon a mediator, they must so notify the Court within the seven day period and the Court will act accordingl y within its discretion

.2

2. All parties must confer with their mediator within seven days of the date

of this Order 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 six weeks 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 di scretion of the mediator, each party 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 prod uce all information the mediator deems 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 me diator at the conclusion of the mediation proceeding.

4. All parties to this matter or their authorized representatives, accompanied by their counsel, must appear and attend the mediation proceeding.

5. Mediation is a mandatory, non

- binding settlemen t conference conducted with the assistance of a mediator. The mediation proceeding will be confidential within the meaning of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies

Code sections 154.053 and 154.073. See T EX

. C IV

. P RAC

. & R EM

. C ODE A NN

. § § 154.053

- .073 ( We st, Westlaw through Ch. 46 2018 1st C.S. ).

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 othe rwise 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. T EX

. C IV

. P RAC

. & R EM

. C ODE
A NN

. § 154.054 ( Wes t, Westlaw through Ch. 46 2018 1st C.S. ).

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 media tion fees were paid in

accordance with the Court ’ s order or as otherwise agreed by the parties.3

9. If mediation fully resolves the issues in this case, the parties must file a joint or agreed motion seeking dispositive relief, within seven days of the

co nclusion of the mediation. If the parties need more time to effectuate the terms of the settlement agreement, they must within seven days of the conclusion of mediation, file a joint or agreed motion for an extension of time to file their disposition moti on.

It is FURTHER ORDERED that this appeal will be stayed until the completion of the

mediation.

WITNESS the Honorable Rogelio Valdez, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals, 13 th Court of Appeals District, at Corpus Christi

- Edinburg, Texas.

GIVEN UN DER MY HAND AND SEAL OF SAID COURT , at my office this 1 2 th day

of October , 20 1 8

.

DORIAN E. RAMIREZ , CLERK Thirteenth Court of Appeals