LMDC Begins a Pilot District Settlement Week, to Resolve 200 Magistrates’ Cases
The Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse (LMDC) will today 2014 begin its pilot
District Settlement Week with about 200 cases earmarked for settlement
from Igbosere Magistrates’ Court.
The exercise which would end on October 31, is meant to use Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism to resolve disputes on contract, debt, recovery, property, land lord and tenant, defamation, family matters among others.
Already, seasoned mediators have been carefully selected to mediate on the cases and about 10 cases are expected to be settled per day.
According to LMDC Director, Mrs. Caroline Nene Etuk, the pilot district settlement week would give participants opportunity to explore settlement of their disputes not merely by negotiations with one another, but by the intervention of skilled mediators.
She pointed out that parties in the cases slated for hearing had already indicated willingness to be part of the exercise, adding that it was part of measures to bring ADR to the grassroots.
Etuk said the district settlement week was also meant to encourage early settlement of cases that are pending at the Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, stressing that the exercise would soon be extended to Ikeja, Yaba, and Ebute- Meta Magistrate’s Courts among others.
“In the event of a non-settlement, the matter is returned to the court’s docket and the parties are at liberty to continue with the case in court and because the mediation process is conducted confidentially and without prejudice, neither party is prejudiced by the mediation process,, she explained.
Besides, she stated that the primary objective of the week-long event is to provide access to justice at the grassroots through a definitive reduction of the case load of the courts within a specified time.
She added that the LMDC provides services for disputants in various areas of law including commercial, employment, and contract, maritime, matrimonial, energy using ADR mechanism such as mediation, arbitration, conciliation, early neutral evaluation and hybrid process.
The LMDC was established on June 11, 2002, as a public-private partnership between the High Court of Justice, Lagos State and the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group (NCMG).
Its objective is to facilitate dispute resolution within the Nigerian Justice System. It is the first court-connected Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre in Africa.
Section 3(1) of the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse empowered the Chief Judge of Lagos State to designate a week in which disputants, lawyers and neutrals would engage in the settlement of disputes through the deployment of ADR mechanisms.
The exercise which would end on October 31, is meant to use Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism to resolve disputes on contract, debt, recovery, property, land lord and tenant, defamation, family matters among others.
Already, seasoned mediators have been carefully selected to mediate on the cases and about 10 cases are expected to be settled per day.
According to LMDC Director, Mrs. Caroline Nene Etuk, the pilot district settlement week would give participants opportunity to explore settlement of their disputes not merely by negotiations with one another, but by the intervention of skilled mediators.
She pointed out that parties in the cases slated for hearing had already indicated willingness to be part of the exercise, adding that it was part of measures to bring ADR to the grassroots.
Etuk said the district settlement week was also meant to encourage early settlement of cases that are pending at the Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, stressing that the exercise would soon be extended to Ikeja, Yaba, and Ebute- Meta Magistrate’s Courts among others.
“In the event of a non-settlement, the matter is returned to the court’s docket and the parties are at liberty to continue with the case in court and because the mediation process is conducted confidentially and without prejudice, neither party is prejudiced by the mediation process,, she explained.
Besides, she stated that the primary objective of the week-long event is to provide access to justice at the grassroots through a definitive reduction of the case load of the courts within a specified time.
She added that the LMDC provides services for disputants in various areas of law including commercial, employment, and contract, maritime, matrimonial, energy using ADR mechanism such as mediation, arbitration, conciliation, early neutral evaluation and hybrid process.
The LMDC was established on June 11, 2002, as a public-private partnership between the High Court of Justice, Lagos State and the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group (NCMG).
Its objective is to facilitate dispute resolution within the Nigerian Justice System. It is the first court-connected Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre in Africa.
Section 3(1) of the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse empowered the Chief Judge of Lagos State to designate a week in which disputants, lawyers and neutrals would engage in the settlement of disputes through the deployment of ADR mechanisms.
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