A mediator was assigned today in the ChromaDex-Elysium litigation in the Central District of California. You can read the order assigning the mediator here:
The mediator's name is Gail Migdal Title.
That's not a typo; her name is Title, her Title is Neutral. Apparently they did a Title search, and got a clear Title.
Gail Migdal Title, Esq. became a neutral after an illustrious career as a litigator handling a broad range of disputes and 14 years when she was also Managing Partner of the California office and part of the leadership of a prominent national law firm.
Her resume claims experience with intellectual property, but not patents.
Her resume also claims experience with business litigation, but not nefarious plans.
Her 14 years were with Katten Muchin, a righteous firm. And before that she graduated from UC Berkeley Law School, a righteous school, except that George W. Bush's Torture Czar, John Yu, remains a stain on its name.
On July 31 the parties requested a court-appointed mediator instead of private mediation.
Within a month the parties are supposed to set a date for the mediation, which mediation should occur at least six weeks prior to the last pretrial conference, which was proposed to be in March, but I don't recall seeing a final order on that.
From the order appointing the mediator:
Counsel are reminded that the written mediation statements which may be required by the Mediator (see General Order No. 11-10, §8.4) shall NOT be filed with the Court. Counsel are further reminded that each party shall appear at the mediation in person or by a representative with final authority to settle the case.
Because the mediation statements aren't filed with the court, we probably won't be able to see them.
It would be fun to be a fly on the wall when officers of both corporations with final authority to settle meet eye-to-eye, even if they fail to see eye-to-eye.
I would recommend that onlookers not make much of this mediation process. Mediation is legally required, so they have to do this, even if the case is very unlikely to settle, as this one is, in my opinion -- although, as Geoff the Troll likes to point out, I am only usually right, not always right.
But I believe that this court-appointed process is the fastest, simplest, cheapest route to trial.
We'll see.