This post was edited due to additional information being provided by Mr. Mike Grossman


Mr. Grossman provided me with a very detailed email that was sent due to several questions I asked about the "Confidentiality" of the mediation.

Here’s the text…

(6) Confidentiality. Except as otherwise required by law or agreed by the litigants, or otherwise provided by this rule, all ADR proceedings under this rule, including communications, statements, disclosures and representations made by any party, attorney or other participant in the course of such proceeding, shall, in all respects, be confidential, and shall not be reported, recorded, placed in evidence, disclosed to anyone not a party to the litigation, made known to the trial court or jury, or construed for any purpose as an admission or declaration against interest. No party shall be bound by anything done or said during such proceedings unless a settlement or other agreement is reached.


He added:
"You will immediately observe that confidentiality is mandated, unless the litigants agree otherwise. Now, go back to the motion of the Requesting Parties, above. DOJ and the Tribes were clear they wanted to stick with, and conduct the mediation, in accordance with the normal confidentiality provisions. In other words, because there was no agreement by them to conduct mediation without the normal confidentiality parameter, confidentiality was the default rule. And thus the Court-ordered mediation employed the normal confidentiality rule.

That said, we did manage, by agreement, to loosen confidentiality in one respect. We obtained agreement with the Requesting Parties that communications with NOAA would not be confidential. And we obtained a modification to the court ordered confidentiality making that intention clear…"

It is interesting to note that there was a process to elect to NOT have the mediation be "Confidential" and that they agreed to loosen the confidentiality to include NOAA, but not the Commission.

Kinda makes it look like they intentional wanted to keep the Commission in the dark, huh? Just saying...


Mike Grossman just emailed me and explained that the confidentiality DID NOT restrict Director Unsworth from sharing information with the Commission.

So, since it appears Mike, you or someone is paying attention to the social media blogs, perhaps we can simplify things and have you answer any questions here on out. That way, we get the facts correct! Thanks...