Iffah Karim ADR Role Play, Draft 1| Week 6, Spring 2022

Facilitated Dispute Resolution Processes Mediation Wk 6 & 7

Role Play Scenario

1. Opening
Statement I would like to thank you welcome you all for choosing to prepare in advance and
come to this voluntary meeting. I have had the chance to equally speak with you
all separately about the matter of your concerns. As you may already know, my
name is Iffah, and I will be your mediation officer for today’s mediation to ensure
that everyone here has a safe space to have a respectful and constructive
conversation. I will remind you that any information shared here is confidential
and will not be shared beyond this room to anyone else. Has anyone done a
mediation before? Yeah? Great I will remind everyone of my role here today.

Role/Process
I am to be impartial, meaning I cannot provide advice; however, I will assist you
to consider options for each of you to make your own decisions throughout this
facilitated process. Procedural Fairness is regarded during this facilitated DR
Processes, meaning that we act fairly in our proceedings.

The purpose of this mediation is for each of you may raise concerns and issues
that you want to be discussed and to hopefully come to an agreement, we may
add more items if it is necessary. I will need 2 to 3 hours of your time for this
meeting. You may take a break whenever you feel you may need to or initiate a
confidential private conversation with myself. 

Process Before we move further into this meeting, do we all consent to making a genuine
attempt in achieving an agreement? And If anyone needs to consult someone else
before we start? I will be taking notes during this meeting. So, I hope that’s okay
with you all.

After hearing everyone’s agenda, I will have a private session with each of you to
go over your statements and agendas. We will then come back together and will
continue the discussion and move towards a suitable agreement to accommodate
everyone’s needs. I would also like to add that nothing will be binding between
parties until our mediated agreement is converted into a contract, trust deed or
consent order.

- Need to be informed with what is happening

I will now explain the terms of this meeting as well as the terms for the initial
2. Ground statements process, all phones are to be powered off. We all will be respectful to
Rules each other and listen as one person speaks at a time for 5 minutes max. There is
to be no use of inappropriate language and we are to express ourselves in a
contained manner. If these terms are breached, this mediation will be terminated.
If there is an imbalance of power between parties, this mediation will also be
terminated.

If support persons have accompanied you today, these individuals are not to take
Iffah Karim ADR Role Play, Draft 1| Week 6, Spring 2022

part in conversations as this infringes the strict balance of party representation. I

would like to remind everyone that we can review the past, but the goal of this
mediation is to create a resolution for the future. If these terms are followed, I am
confident that we can have a very constructive discussion today about what
matters to each of you in this meeting. 

Is there anyone that would like to share their statement 1st? Remember that we
work under procedural fairness, so everyone is be treated and heard out equally.
There will be no benefits in going first.

OR

Mediator: Now that’s out of the way. We may start with everyone’s initial
statements. Given that everyone has equally and adequately prepared for this
mediation. We’ll go in alphabetical order.

3. Parties Initial Statements

Party 1: Danny Donoghue – Victim

· Due to ingesting the contaminated beverage. I had to take days off work plus pay for
the doctor’s consultation as well as medication.

· I do believe that this is a matter of negligence that has caused me a great loss and
injury.

· I’ve come for compensation

Mediator: I can really hear how these events have caused you a loss and damage. Thank you
for sharing your side of the events. Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Alright, Thank you. Is there anyone that would like to go next?

Party 2: Sandy Stevenson - Drink Manufacturer

· I’m a local business that manufactures ginger beer and other soft drinks. I’ve supplied
to the School Café for many years.

· first incident in relation to one of my manufactured products.

Mediator: Thank you , for sharing your statement. I see that you feel strong about your
regulations and quality of your products. I hear that this is actually your first incident

Party 3: Thomas Green- Café Owner

Iffah Karim ADR Role Play, Draft 1| Week 6, Spring 2022

Hello everyone, my name is Thomas Green and I’m the owner of School Café,

· Concerned about reputational impact of business if a legal complaint is made (Café is

his only source of income)

· Losing the Café would be detrimental to financial and personal life (Paying off his
mortgage relies on the café) - Unemployed wife and 2 small children

Mediator: Thank you Mr Green for sharing your statement. It sounds like your concern
really lies with that the image of your Café since it is your only source of income for you and
your small family

Party 4: Susan Ashfield- Employee of Café

· Believes that both Stevenson and Green violated basic customer rights- showed
negligence and disrespect

· knows that Green fails to meet health and safety requirements -> tries to cut costs and
does the bare minimum

· Believes Green was unfair and disproportionate, she’s always been a good employee

· Regrets making the post and took it down

Mediator: I see, Ms Ashfield you seem unhappy with Mr Greens H&S regulations. Thank
you for sharing your statement.

Are there any other items that you like to add? I would also like to thank everyone for
showing a great amount of respect for each other. I know revisiting past events can be very
triggering. I can confidently say that we are showing a promising start to this mediation.

4. Common Ground & Agenda Setting

Mediator: Okay everyone, but I would like to visit what I identify as the most difficult issues
and address our agendas first. I know this may be daunting for all of you, but not to worry as
long as we heed to our ground rules. Again we will go by alphabetical order.

Agenda

What do you want from todays meeting?

“You have quite afew points here lets create an agenda to narrow these down”

Party 1: Danny Donoghue

As a result of ingesting the contaminated beverage Mr Donoghue:

a) Wants compensation for loss and damage

Iffah Karim ADR Role Play, Draft 1| Week 6, Spring 2022

b) Leaning towards litigation – depends how the mediation goes

Part 2: Sandy Stevenson

a) Does not believe he is responsible- Denys any damage to Mr Donoghue

Party 3: Thomas Greene

a) Wants a cheap quick settlement
b) Café is important to him and its reputation

Party 4: Susan Ashfield

a) Wants job back, if not she will escalate to possible litigation for unfair dismissal
b) Thinks Stevenson and Green are responsible for Donoghue
c) Determined to reveal Greens poor safety and health standards

Mediator: Are there any other possible items that we could discuss? Thank you again for
adhering to our ground rules. Would anyone like to take a break? Perhaps stretch your legs,
get a drink? No? If so we will proceed with the mediation.

Common Ground

· Danny and Susan potentially want litigation depending on the outcome of the
mediation
· Green wants a cheap and quick settlement

5. Exploration & Discussion

During this process I understand that our emotions may run high during the next processes
but please keep our ground rules in mind and remain respectful to ensure a constructive
conversation between ourselves, everyone will have their turn. We may initiate a break if it is
necessary to regulate ourselves.

- Ask them where they want to start

- “Do you think point B is a good place to start”

Priority

Stevenson v Green v Donoghue

a) compensate Donoghue, but who?

b) If Mr Green is known to have poor W&S it is more likely that he is responsible. –
may need to leave that to an experienced DR practitioner. Review legislation etc to
see who is liable
c) Stevenson owes Donoghue a duty of care so he may be responsible (depends, we
don’t know this for sure)

Green v Ashfield

a) Give Ashfield her job back

Iffah Karim ADR Role Play, Draft 1| Week 6, Spring 2022

b) Ashfield wants to expose Green for his poor health and safety

Mediator: So how can we , find a suitable solution for everyone in this room. Remember that
we are all trying to work to a positive outcome. We will now have separate sessions for you
to discussion how you feek about how this process is going and sharing your own concerns.

6. Private session

*Go into separate sessions and check in with everyone, go over what they have said*

7. Generating Options

Green v Donoghue

Mr Donoghue you wish to be compensated, correct? How do you suggest we work this out?

· We could possibly create an amount for the sum of money that I had lost from the
incident. We may need a DR practitioner that has expertise is this area of work to find
out how much is owed and create a settlement.
· Pays half of the sum owed

Green v Ashfield

Ms Ashfield you wish to primarily have your job back and you are unhappy with Mr Greens
health and safety standards, correct? How can we meet Ms Ashfields needs everyone? I hear
that you regretting making that post about the Café, what would you suggest we do how can
we make amends?

· Ashfield can apologise for making the post, and next time come to Mr Green
regarding issues at work instead of posting it on social media.
· Mr Green can give back Ms Ashfield her job back to avoid litigation.
· Mr Green can improve his H&S standards to keep his employees and customers safe.
· Mr Green can complete a course on H&S standards.

In giving Ms Ashfield her job back Mr Green as well as bettering his H&S standards in
his café, Mr Green can avoid both litigation and being exposed for his poor H&S.

Stevenson v Green

We are all aware that you are confident that your health and safety regulations are sound, but
how can we avoid a situation like this in the future? Any suggestions?

- Stevenson can change his packaging to glass that isn’t as pigmented.

- Pays half of the sum owed
Iffah Karim ADR Role Play, Draft 1| Week 6, Spring 2022

8. Negotiation

9. Agreement and Termination

· A Settlement after the appropriate person had calculated a sum to compensate

Donoghue

· Contract to make Green complete a H&S course

Thank you all for join me today in our mediation, all of you showed a great amount of
respect for one another. I am happy that we have all come to a resolution that meets
everyone’s needs. We’ll be back after the appropriate research has been conducted and a
settlement in converted into a contract. Once again, thank you everyone for your brilliant
effort.