| (a) Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d),
a communication relating to the subject matter made by a participant
in mediation, whether before or after the institution of formal mediation
proceedings, is confidential, is not subject to disclosure, and may
not be used as evidence against the participant in any separate legal
proceeding.
(b) Any notes or records made regarding a mediation
are confidential, and participants, including the mediator, may not
be required to testify in any separate legal proceeding relating to
or arising out of the matter in dispute or be subject to process requiring
disclosure of confidential information or data relating to or arising
out of the matter in dispute.
(c) An oral communication or written material used
in or made a part of a mediation process is admissible or discoverable
only if it is admissible or discoverable independent of the mediation.
(d) If this section conflicts with other legal requirements
for disclosure of communications or materials in a separate legal
proceeding, the issue of confidentiality may be presented to the judge
in that proceeding to determine, in camera, whether the facts, circumstances,
and context of the communications or materials sought to be disclosed
warrant a protective order or whether the communications or materials
are subject to disclosure.
(e) All communications in the mediation between parties
and between each party and the mediator are confidential. No shared
information will be given to the other party unless the party sharing
the information explicitly gives the mediator permission to do so.
Material provided to the mediator will not be provided to other parties
and will not be filed or become part of the contested case record.
All notes taken during the mediation conference will be destroyed
at the end of the process.
|
