Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: mediation turned into arbitration

My guess is that your mediation didn't turn into an arbitration.

At the end of an arbitration, you don't sign an agreement. At the end of an arbitration, the arbitrator signs a decision or award.

At the end of a successful mediation, however, the parties will sign an agreement embodying the terms of settlement they agreed upon during the mediation. Remember, the purpose of a mediation is to reach a negotiated settlement. In contrast, in an arbitration there is no settlement (well there can be, but that's not usual); instead, the arbitrator hears both sides and issues a decision just as a judge will hand down a judgment at the end of a trial.

Further, there cannot be an arbitration unless all parties agree to it in writing. The arbitration agreement, signed beforehand, is the arbitrator's authority to go about his business of hearing your case and handing down a binding decision afterwards.

So, it seems to me that your attorney is not doing a good job of explaining what happened. To be sure, I could be wrong, but based on your facts it looks pretty certain that what you signed was a settlement agreement, produced as a result of an agreement reached during mediation. You didn't have to sign it!

By the way, it is not uncommon for parties who mediate and settle during mediation to have regrets afterwards. There is always some pressure to compromise and settle in mediation. Even so, most parties are really better off having settled. Trials are expensive and the outcome is not predictable.