Small Claims Mediation in Maine: An Empirical Assessment

McEwen, Craig A.; Maiman, Richard J.. Maine Law Review, Jan. 1, 1981

In this famous study, the authors compare the efficacy of three small claims mediation courts in Maine with that of three non-mediation courts. Survey and interview data showed that mediation participants had higher rates of satisfaction with the process and thought the outcome was fair more often than adjudication participants. Mediation participants were also much more likely to comply with the agreement than adjudication participants were with the judgment.

Description of Study: Comparative study that looked at the impact of mediation in small claims cases on compliance and satisfaction.

Method: Compared 3 courts with programs with 3 corresponding courts without programs. Interviewed litigants from randomly sampled cases 4-8 weeks after the case was tried or mediated, observed mediation and court sessions, and analyzed court dockets and mediation reports.

Comparative: Yes

Comparison Groups: Cases in courts with a mediation program and cases in courts without one

Sample Size: Of 403 cases selected, 97% had at least one party participate in the interview and 75.6% had both parties participate. More than 70 mediation sessions and 30 small claims court sessions were observed. Information on more than 18,000 cases was gleaned from court dockets from all six courts over a five-year period.

Variables Examined: Satisfaction with overall experience, perceived fairness of the outcome, compliance

Program Variables: Voluntary, free program mediated by volunteers at the courthouse. Often, voluntariness of the process was not clear, or the judge ordered the parties to mediation (13.9% of cases). In 32.6% of cases, mediation was not available at the time the case was called.

Findings: Satisfaction with mediation was 80% if the parties had continuing relationships, 65% if they did not – over all, 66.6% of parties were mostly or completely satisfied, as compared to 54% of those who adjudicated their cases. 67.1% of mediation participants thought the final settlement was fair, as opposed to 59% of those in adjudication. The correlation between percent the settlement was of the original claim and the parties' sense of fairness in mediation was weaker than in adjudication. Both parties thought the settlement was fair in 44% of mediation cases, and in 23.5% of adjudicated cases. Compliance was greater in mediated cases that settled – with 70.6% paid in full, as compared to 33.8% of adjudicated cases and 52.8% of mediated cases that did not settle.