The Lagos Settlement Week, set aside for clearing the backlog of cases in some of the Lagos High Courts, through the procedure of Alternative Dispute Resolution, will begin today.The Director of Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse, Mrs. Caroline Etuk, recently at a press conference said that the Lagos Settlement Week, was a collaboration between the state judiciary, the LMDC and the three branches of the Nigeria Bar Association in the state.She said over 200 civil cases have been scheduled for settlement in the week-long programme.An overriding objective of the LMDC, according to section 3(1)(8) of the LMDC Law is to promote or to undertake projects or other activities, among which is the LSW.The LSW and such other activities of the LMDC are meant to assist in decongesting the courts and in achieving other purposes for which the LMDC was established.The LSW is defined in the LMDC Law as, A week set aside by the Chief Judge of Lagos State for specific courts to clear the backlog of cases through means which include referrals to the LMDC for possible resolution through mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluation or any other ADR procedure.Etuk said the ADR mechanism to be adopted at the Lagos Settlement Week would provide satisfying, timely and effective justice to litigants.She said, The benefits of ADR to justice sector stakeholders cannot be overemphasised. The primary mechanisms which are mediation, conciliation, arbitration, early neutral evaluation and a host of hybrid process though available on a spectrum which ranges from the participatory to the adjudicatory alternatives, shares common benefits in the most part.There are many case types which are amenable to time-bound mediation and the LSW will be focussed on these but cases that do not conform to the LSW case selection criteria are being screened out.Affected persons may elect to have these cases listed on the regular LSW docket. The 150 to 200 cases being slated for the LSW include contract, debt recovery, property, landlord and tenant, employment, defamation, family matters.She said matters such as ones involving land succession that were not amenable to the three hour time-bound mediation would not be taken at the LSW.The Chief Judge of the state, Justice Inumidun Akande, had in September set up the LSW committee to plan and implement the event.Etuk urged lawyers and members of the public to avail themselves of the opportunity of effective settlement offered by the LSW and not to see litigation as the only means of settling disputes.Promising a better result this year, Etuk said a 48 per cent settlement rate was achieved in its first edition held in 2009.She said the 2009 result earned LMDC an international award by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. She said the LMDC was a co-winner in the Significant Achievement in the Field of Dispute Resolution category of the awards.Without giving details of representing its performance in 2010, she noted that the results of the 2010 edition showed that much still needed to be done to get parties to accept the ADR and to put solid judicial structures in place to drive the change.She said the fear of the unknown could be responsible for the general relunctance people could have towards accepting the ADR.
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