It can be difficult to settle cases where opposing parties have strong disagreements over case value. This difficulty can rise exponentially when multiple defendants participate in a mediation, with divergent ideas about responsibility, exposure and appropriate levels of participation.

At times, disputes between different defendants can become intractable, threatening to derail the entire mediation process. If the defendants can’t even agree on how to divide up a starting offer, how can a negotiation proceed? There are, however, some creative strategies to keep multi-defendant mediations on track and headed to resolution.