§ 7714 — Conduct of the ADR proceedings

Subject to any agreement of the parties to adopt different rules of proceeding and the power of the ADR Specialist to modify these procedures in appropriate instances, the ADR shall be conducted as follows:

(a) No later than 7 days prior to the commencement of the ADR, each party shall submit to the ADR Specialist and the other parties a statement of its position in the dispute and such supporting documents as it deems appropriate, provided that such statement of position shall not exceed 25 pages in length.

(b) Upon the commencement of the ADR, each party shall have no more than 1 hour to present its position to the ADR Specialist in the presence of the other parties. This presentation may be made by counsel, by examining witnesses or by any other means that is reasonable under the circumstances. Upon conclusion of any party’s presentation, the ADR Specialist may permit the other parties to have up to 1 hour to ask questions of the presenting party, with such hour to be divided among the other parties as determined by the ADR Specialist.

(c) Upon conclusion of the initial presentations of positions by all the parties and such questioning of the parties as thereafter occurs pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the ADR Specialist as soon as possible shall attempt to resolve the dispute by meeting with the parties, either separately or as a group as the Specialist determines is appropriate. Such meetings shall conclude when the dispute is resolved or at the regular close of business on the day the ADR commenced, whichever first occurs.

(d) If the parties thereafter agree, the ADR Specialist may continue to discuss the resolution of the dispute with them, either separately or together, until any party notifies the ADR Specialist that such discussions are at an impasse.

Legislative History

70 Del. Laws, c. 151, § 1