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| Best Practices |
A Resolution Revolution
Michelle Seaton
04/01/2005
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Three years ago, two cardiologists working near San Diego formed a partnership to patent, produce and sell a vitamin supplement for heart patients. Although the two crafted elaborate plans about how to split the profits when the product succeeded, they did not think about how they would dissolve the partnership if it failed. After a year of R&D, they had run up sizeable bills but still had no supplement. Each also felt that the other was to blame for the failure of their business, and each planned to sue the other for the right to retain the product’s patent and for possession of the company’s few assets. In addition, one doctor demanded reimbursement for the money he had invested to support the business.
 This would have made for a rather mundane court case, except for the fact that the two doctors are neighbors in La Jolla who belong to the same synagogue and have the same friends. In fact, they emigrated to the United States from the same African country. They understood that a lengthy legal battle would drain them financially and emotionally, and would poison their social circle.
Rather than hire an arbitrator to render a legal decision, the partners engaged a mediator to negotiate a nonbinding settlement. “People often pursue litigation, even when it’s not in their best interest,” says Robin Seigle, director of the Business Center of the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego and the mediator who handled this dispute. “Still, if you ever plan to have a relationship with this person again, you should at least try mediation.”
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