Lack of funding to conduct investigations or hire experts from outside that agency. Lack of funding to hire mediators. Lack of support from middle managers. Lack of training and experience in ADR by staff. Plaintiffs' attorneys get paid five percent more for settlements at the court stage than the administrative stage.
Plaintiffs perceive that AUSAs settle cases for more money than agency counsel.
Mr. Bradshaw described the claims against the government program at the Veterans' Affairs Department, which receives 1200 claims per year. Some of the trials that were lost, however, were for large amounts of money. He described a particular case involving a medical malpractice claim that went to mediation. The case did not settle at the mediation, but it did settle one month later for the amount the government had offered during the mediation. He said that ADR could assist agencies with the discovery process if a mediation took place in a two-stage process.