Tripartite mediations

This article describes civil case mediations in which the disputants are the plaintiff and the defendant and introduces tripartite mediations—those in which a third‐party intervenor is involved and claims a part of the proceeds that are to be paid to the plaintiff (by the defendant). The authors discuss the intervenor's goals and tactics, reporting how mediators manage the complex relationships among the three parties. Drawing on Thompson's (1967) and Deutsch's (1973) conceptualizations of interdependence in con.ict resolution, the authors propose a new approach for mediators to improve their effectiveness in tripartite mediations.