Environmental Law Group chair Marc Rollo was quoted in the New Jersey Law Journal article “Ex-Judge Calls for Early Mediation Program as Water Pollution Suits Proliferate.” The article discusses Marina Corodemus, a retired Middlesex County Superior Court judge who supervised mass tort litigation, and is seeking support for a proposal to send water pollution suits into early mediation and targeted discovery in an effort to promptly resolve cases. In reference to the proposal, Marc is quoted as seeing merit in early mediation, but said he hasn’t studied Corodemus’ proposal in detail so far, stating, “I personally have seen the value of early resolution of these cases. Many times, a suit is filed and attorneys go on autopilot when really there is a resolution to be had, but sometimes there is not a vehicle to achieve that. A resolution may take some arm-twisting and creativity but there are certain times when it’s there to he had, if you dig deeply.” He added, “Natural resources suits brought by private parties and those brought by the state are both good candidates for early mediation. My personal view is it’s always good to have those discussions, and I think it’s much more effective to have them with a mediator. I do see the value of it, and I think oftentimes, even if it doesn’t get resolved at mediation, the groundwork has been laid.”
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