Alabama Appellate Mediation Program Background

Program History

The Supreme Court Committee on Appellate Mediation is composed of judges and lawyers who have worked diligently to develop an appellate mediation program that can be used by the Supreme Court of Alabama and the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. It is the committee's hope that such a program will benefit the citizens of the State by providing parties a creative alternative to the appellate process. It is the intent of the committee that appellate mediation will provide a more expeditious and less expensive method to resolve disputes to the mutual satisfaction of all parties.

In the spring of 2002, after having preliminarily researched the concept of appellate mediation for civil appeals in Alabama, the Alabama Supreme Court Standing Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure recommended that the Supreme Court appoint a committee to make an in-depth evaluation of the feasibility of appellate mediation in Alabama and to draft rules governing mediation.

In May 2002, the Supreme Court Committee on Appellate Mediation met for the first time. The Committee studied state and federal appellate mediation programs from around the country. The committee proposed a program similar to the mediation program used by the District Court of Appeal, Fifth District, Florida.

The Committee on Appellate Mediation drafted rules for the proposed program and, after having reviewed the proposed rules, on July 17, 2003, the Supreme Court adopted Rule 55, Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure, which provides for appellate mediation. On November 17, 2003, the Supreme Court adopted the Alabama Appellate Mediation Rules, which govern the mediation procedure. On January 6, 2004, January 27, 2005 and October 31, 2005, the Appellate Mediation Rules were amended.

In December 2003, through a collaboration with the Alabama Center for Dispute Resolution and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, the Alabama Appellate Mediation Program trained 120 mediators to become knowledgeable in appellate mediation.

The program began referring appeals to appellate mediators January 2004.

Supreme Court Committee on Appellate Mediation Members

Justice Champ Lyons, Jr., Chair

Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Alabama

Justice Robert Bernard Harwood, Jr.

Associate Justice Retired, Appellate Mediator

Justice Thomas A. Woodall

Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Alabama

Robert G. Esdale

Clerk, Supreme Court of Alabama

Celeste Wallner Sabel

Appellate Mediation Administrator, Supreme Court of Alabama

John H. Wilkerson, Jr.

Clerk, Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

Rebecca Oates

Appellate Mediation Administrator, Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

Judy Keegan, Esq.

Executive Director, Alabama Center for Dispute Resolution

Rhonda Chambers, Esq.

Chair, Appellate Rules Committee

Michelle Ohme

Executive Director, Appellate Mediation Program