United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Announces Revised ADR Policies and Procedures

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania recently announced revised alternative dispute resolution policies and procedures for cases pending before the Court. The Court’s revised Early ADR Policies and Procedures will take effect on January 1, 2025.

The substantive changes from the policies and procedures that are currently in effect are minimal, as most of the changes simply reformat or reorganize the same policies and procedures that already are in effect. One substantive revision relates to the conduct of mediations and the new procedures allow mediators to require the parties to submit written mediation statements. Under the current procedures, mediators are not permitted to require mediation statements. Another revision relates to early neutral evaluations, but this revision simply codifies what most would regard as existing practice by setting forth several limitations to the authority of an ADR neutral serving as evaluator. In particular, the revised policies and procedures expressly provide that an ADR neutral conducting an early neutral evaluation does not have the authority to (i) determine the issues in the case, (ii) to impose limits on parties’ pretrial activities, or (iii) impose sanctions.