Mediation of A Lawsuit
Hostile Harry owned several carpet stores and was being sued by a carpet manufacturer for non – payment of a group of invoices. He already felt under pressure because he knew he did owe a certain amount to the carpet manufacturer.
He was tense going in because he feared he would be taken advantage of. He was embarrassed and was uncomfortable in the position he found himself.
He had his guard up and did not want to come out on the short end of things. Harry is the defendant in this case.
The decision maker for the carpet manufacturer (the plaintiff) was George, Vice President of Credit. He felt the facts were in his favor and felt he would win if the case went to trial. He wanted to get as much as possible of the money that was owed to his company, as quickly as possible. He felt no particular need to compromise and did not really care to prevent the case from going to trial. In other words he felt he was “right”.
Harry’s objective was to reduce substantially the amount he owed to the carpet manufacturer and he hoped to receive a payout plan on that reduced amount that he could afford. He also wanted (more…)