Mediation has become an important tool for local judges presiding over civil cases, with more than half of all lawsuits filed in the city resolved through mediation, officials from the Shanghai Higher People's Court said yesterday at a news conference.
Local courts accepted 104,000 civil lawsuits and resolved 94,000 of them during the first eight months of this year. Among the completed lawsuits, 60.9 percent were resolved through mediation, which represents a 10 percentage point increase from the same period last year.
"Mediation is emphasized throughout the trial process for civil lawsuits. The judges will make judgments only after the two sides have failed to reach an agreement," said Pan Furen, deputy director of the higher court.
"Mediation not only improves the working efficiency of judges, but also benefits the parties involved in the lawsuits since they needn't spend a long time and much energy waiting for a verdict."
In some grassroots courts, a group is formed to do mediation specially. For instance, the Pudong New Area People's Court formed the No. 4 civil court to handle mediation work. The court has resolved one third of the civil cases brought before the Pudong court, despite having only 12 percent of its employees.
Xu yudi, a judge with the Minhang District People's Cour finished some 400 cases in the first half of this year through mediation. "Most such cases are common disputes like divorce, property division and debt payment," he said.