In civil cases, the parties are supposed to have a person available with full settlement authority. Unfortunately, sometimes some parties play lip service to this and designate a person who is supposed to have full authority but really doesn’t. The insurance adjuster may indicate that he or she has full settlement authority to settle the case, but the adjuster in person or on the phone only has authority up to X amount. The adjuster may have placed a low reserve on the case which ultimately requires another person’s approval to settle the case if new information comes up which requires a substantial reassessment of the case.
At times, there are nonparties who really need to be involved in decision-making. For example, I mediated a civil case where one of the parties’ parents were ultimately going to be paying the lion’s share of any settlement. I had another case where a party was certain that his father would personally sign for a loan in order to refinance some real property. In the past, I used to take a very hard line on any third party showing up without the express approval of the other side. In the recent past, particularly with the advent of cell phones, I would honestly rather have the person present to hear all the information presented rather than one party’s interpretation of that information.
In family law cases, the parties may want to have a new girlfriend or boyfriend attend mediation or have a close relative appear. All these are fraught with peril. Even if you, as the mediator, are very clear that they cannot participate in mediation, I have had occasions where, nonetheless, the person shows up and plans to simply wait in the waiting room the whole day and hang out. Several of our local mediators have essentially taken the position that they will allow the presence of a third party so long as the mediator believes that it is helpful. If the third party becomes disruptive, the mediator has the absolute right to make the person leave. I’ve actually been surprised in a few cases that a family member has been an asset in getting the case resolved rather than a liability.