16.5      Case Evaluation

1. Definition - The case evaluation program affords litigants an ADR process patterned after that extensively used in the courts of the State of Michigan. See Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 600.4951-.4969; Mich. Ct. R. 2.403. Case evaluation principally involves establishment of the settlement value of a case by a three-member panel of attorneys. The court may order that any civil case in which damages are sought be submitted to case evaluation; certain tort cases in which the rule of decision is supplied by Michigan law must be submitted to case evaluation, unless the parties unanimously agree to submit the case to voluntary facilitative mediation.
2. Program description - Procedures and other details regarding the standard and blue ribbon case evaluation processes are found in the program description, available on the court’s website.