CREATING A CLIMATE OF MUTUAL TRUST WAS KEY IN THIS HIGH STAKES INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE

A MEDIATION LED BY NICOLAS FOURNIER.

The Situation:

A farming company in Europe bought a large industrial dryer from an engineering manufacturer. Their business takes large quantities of citrus peel, and through drying it and mixing it with other ingredients they create nutritious cattle food for dairy cows. However, the industrial dryer didn’t work properly. For several years they continued to try, but a lot of the crop was wasted. Eventually they made a claim against the manufacturer, and they began fighting hard with one another for the millions of euros at stake.

The Solve:

Altogether there were four parties in the suit, two insurance companies, the claimant, and the manufacturer. Nicolas began by organising long and thorough pre-mediation meetings with each party and their lawyers, usually lasting two to three hours. In March 2022 they had their first plenary session with all parties present. During a break, in a private meeting, the head of the manufacturing company revealed to Nicolas that he was close to bankruptcy. He was desperate because it was such a big claim, and they would certainly go bankrupt should they have to pay the amount they were asked for. When the meeting resumed, Nicolas said to the 20 people in the room, “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have a meeting with just the four decision makers of each party.” They went into a different room, and Nicolas asked the head of the manufacturing company to explain his situation to the others. It was very touching, the man explained that if a claim against him was pushed too far, it would precipitate insolvency across the whole group. The claimant’s reaction to his honesty was remarkably kind and very human. He understood that this man was ready to apologise for the problem, but that if the company was pushed to its limits, well, he would get nothing.

That is how, gradually, they started to inch towards a solution and within half an hour of this meeting, they agreed on a deal!

The impact:

This settlement worked because the people around the table managed to interact in a positive and constructive way. They were able to reach a settlement that satisfied every party, and the engineering manufacturer was able to avoid bankruptcy.

Jean-Pierre, the decision-maker for the claimant, shares his experience:

On 1 March 2022, Nicolas Fournier conducted a mediation in an industrial dispute involving a claim of 8 million euros and opposing the XX1 Company and its insurer YY1 on the one hand, and XX2 Company and its insurer the YY2 insurance company on the other.

Despite the high financial stakes involved, Nicolas conducted this mediation to a settlement in one single plenary meeting, which, in my view, was both remarkable and unexpected.

After introducing the mediation by recalling its purpose, the parties, at your invitation, proceeded to a presentation of the dispute opposing them and each developed the technical and financial arguments characterising this complex case.

Nicolas then proceeded to a brief summary of the parties' introductions, followed by a period of discussion between each of them and, in this respect, Nicolas’ role was decisive because, for the first time in this case, a real discussion on the merits was able to take place between the parties in complete serenity, despite the tensions that were palpable at the start of the mediation.

Once a climate of trust had been established, Nicolas organised various meetings which enabled genuine proposals and mutual concessions to emerge between the parties.

At the end of these meetings, you brought together the four decision-makers from each of the parties and, after a masterly summary, you won the agreement of all of them on the principles of a global agreement adopted during the meeting, including the fate of the losses not covered by the insurance companies involved in the case. 

Within eight days of this mediation, each party confirmed its agreement on the principles of the global agreement developed under your auspices, with minor adjustments that did not pose any particular problem.

I will remember from this mediation that, through your qualities of listening, synthesis, and reformulation, you were able, from the outset, to instil a climate of mutual trust which, obviously, was a determining factor in the outcome of this mediation.