An attorney’s alleged defamatory statements to another lawyer while waiting for a court-ordered mediation conference to begin were confidential mediation communications.

A Michigan trial court has been instructed to scrutinize whether a divorce settlement is unenforceable because the mediator in the case did not conduct the domestic violence screening.

The trial court in this defamation case erred by striking an attorney’s affidavit and precluding the attorney from testifying.

A settlement agreement signed by the parties in this divorce action was valid and enforceable, even though the mediator did not conduct any domestic violence screening.

A defendant couldn’t claim the mediation agreement he signed during his divorce proceedings was unenforceable based on perceived procedural mistakes.

In Heiden v Heiden, the COA used the statutory rules governing binding domestic-relations alternative dispute resolution to set aside a common law mediation agreement that purported to divide the parties' property for their judgment of divorce.