Cost of neutral evaluation

Neutral Evaluation (NE) is quick, inexpensive and confidential. NE allows an unexpected amount of flexibility and informality that combines the advantages of a judicial settlement conference, mediation, and independent expert determination of the dispute and allows the parties to effectively choose their own ‘judge’. Mainly NE has stated that the overriding purpose of NE is to make litigation less expensive for parties by reducing pre-trial costs and enhancing pre-trial practice. Time to time, the conditions and the fees and expenses for the Tribunal’s NE services may alter.

The parties are jointly responsible for the expert’s fees and expenses in NE. However, it is most common, and indeed desirable, that the parties contribute equally to the cost of the NE process thus confirming that the evaluator is employed for the benefit of all parties and ensuring the 'neutral' status of the Evaluator. Costs are covered by the registration fees paid by each party incorporated in the claim amount (Superior Court of California, 2012).

The expert shall maintain sufficient records to enable the hours spent on any particular case to be established. These records will be supplied to any party on request. The parties shall be responsible for payment of all fees, costs and expenses of and related to the application and shall pay these immediately on demands to us at the conclusion of the evaluation. In the event that the dispute is settled or the agreement for NE is withdrawn by the parties, the evaluator’s fees and expenses including any entitlement to cancellation fees will be deducted from the amount paid as security for the evaluator’s fees and expenses. Otherwise the parties shall bear their own costs of the application regardless of the outcome (Superior Court of California, 2012).