We came across this interesting article on the website for the International Risk Management Institute, Inc. (“IRMI”). It is entitled “A Tool for Multi-Party Insurance Litigation Mediation with ‘Additional Insureds'” and was written by Jeff Kichaven.
The title makes the article sound more narrowly-focused than it is. It discusses a technique called the “Surowiecki Ballot”. It sounds to us like this approach could be useful in the mediation of a variety of cases, not just insurance litigation and certainly not just ones involving “additional insureds”.
This tool is a bit reminscent of the “double-blind” offer technique sometimes used by Rick Weiler and others, in that it creates some pressure on parties to step back and value their risk (and that of others) without the posturing that usually happens at mediation.
Worth a look.