Mediation Nation: DC Baseball and Cicero Home Depot

Two interesting mediation stories are in the news these days -- one national and one local:

Story #1. As reported here, Major League Baseball and the District of Columbia are engaged in mediation over plans to build a new baseball stadium.  The very well-respected Dennis Archer, former mayor of Detroit and former guardian of Rosa Parks, is acting as mediator.

DC and Major League Baseball have a contract regarding the stadium, and DC failed to fulfill certain contractual requirements.  Under the contract, the parties must attempt mediation (i.e. negotiation using a neutral third party who tries to help the parties reach agreement).  If mediation fails to result in a settlement, the parties will move to arbitration (where a neutral third party essentially acts as a judge in deciding which party is in the wrong, damages, etc.).

Why would the parties prefer mediation or arbitration over going to court?  A few reasons:

1. Privacy

2. Lower costs

3. Speed of resolution

4. Desire to preserve an ongoing business relationship.  It may be that DC is entirely in the wrong here, but what would such a finding accomplish for Major League Baseball?  Not much, perhaps.  Maybe they have decided that DC is "the best game in town," and that no other location can provide the same benefits as our nation's capital.  Most attorneys and mediators will advise negotiating parties to consider their BATNA ("Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement").  If Major League Baseball's BATNA is going to court, or finding another location for a team to play (Oregon? Las Vegas?), then perhaps they are willing to spend more time working with the other party to reach a solution, even if the other party is in the wrong. 

It's harder to talk with private disputants (such as parties in probate litigation) about BATNA -- they are much more likely to become emotional, and to talk in terms of "principle" and wanting to prove that they are right (and the other party is wrong).

Story #2. For some time, day laborers have been congregating at the Home Depot store in Cicero, looking for work.  This has led to conflict involving:

-the day laborers;

-the store (which has intermittently tried to have the day laborers arrested for trespassing);

-the town of Cicero (including the police, who don't want to devote a lot of resources to this matter); and

-the Chicago Minuteman Project (which picketed because many of the day laborers are illegal immigrants).

This morning's Chicago Tribune reports (in an article I can't find online) that Home Depot has now hired mediator Trudy Nichols to attempt to work out an agreement between the store, town officials, and the Latino Union (described in the article as "an advocacy group representing the day laborers").

Mediation strikes me as a great way to resolve this dispute.  There are lots of different interests at play here, and a good mediator can probably be pretty creative in helping the parties to craft a solution.  My only concern is whether all of the necessary parties will be involved in the negotiations.  Does the Latino Union truly represent all of the day laborers?  Does it make sense to involve the Chicago Minuteman Project?