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Litigation glossary
Legal structure

Mediator's Proposal

A settlement figure the mediator proposes directly to both sides after direct bargaining stalls, which each side accepts or rejects confidentially.

A mediator's proposal is a tool used to break impasse: after back-and-forth bargaining stops moving, the mediator picks a single number and presents it to each side privately, asking only for a yes or no. Neither side sees the other's answer unless both say yes.

This double-blind structure lets each party accept a number without revealing weakness. A party can say yes without the other side learning it was ready to settle for less, and can say no without revealing where its real limit lies, since a rejection is never disclosed to the opponent.

In Juricratic's negotiation modeling, a mediator's proposal is represented as a mechanism that collapses a wide, unresolved settlement-range dial into a single binary accept-or-reject branch, without leaking either party's private reservation-price dial to the opposing side inside the simulation.

In litigation

How it actually shows up

Mediators typically reserve this tool for late in the session, after conventional bracket bargaining has stalled, because proposing a number too early can anchor the negotiation or signal the mediator's own view of case value before enough information has been exchanged.

Questions
Is a mediator's proposal binding?
Only if both sides accept it. A mediator's proposal has no legal effect on its own; it is simply a suggested number.
What happens if only one side accepts the mediator's proposal?
Nothing is disclosed to the other side, and typically no deal results. The mediation either continues or ends at impasse.
How does a mediator choose the number?
Mediators typically draw on their sense of both sides' bargaining ranges, case strength, and litigation risk built up during confidential caucuses.

This page is an educational explainer, not legal advice, and creates no attorney–client relationship. Juricratic is a simulation engine: every probability-like figure is a dial you set, not a calibrated prediction. Verify every rule, deadline, and figure against the authorities and orders that govern your matter.

Turn the concept into a modeled matter.

Juricratic makes every one of these ideas a live dial: model your case as a solvable game, then watch the optimal line and the settlement window move as the assumptions do.

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simulation, not prediction — not legal advice