If a court orders parties to a dispute to meet with a mediator, but the parties fail to appear before the mediator at the first meeting, this does not constitute the start of mediation; the mediation is not properly initiated until the conclusion of a mediation agreement (Section 4(1) of the Mediation Act), which may or may not occur at the first meeting with the mediator. This means that the first meeting itself is not a part of the mediation as foreseen by Section 2(a) of the Mediation Act, i.e., the purpose of the first meeting is not “mediation as an informal procedure aimed at reaching a settlement of a dispute, but rather an informative meeting with the parties focused on the principles, benefits, and purpose of mediation and determining whether the parties are willing to participate in the mediation.”
If the purpose of the first meeting with a registered mediator is merely to inform the parties about the principles, purpose, and benefits of mediation, then the failure to appear at such meeting ordered to the parties by court under Section 100(2) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which does not give the right to appeal [Section 202(1)(m) of the Rules of Civil Procedure], where no mediation agreement is concluded (i.e., the mediation itself is not initiated), cannot be viewed as a procedural action of the parties resulting in any creation, change, or cessation of any procedural relation. This is true even though the mediator’s fee for the first meeting is a part of the costs of the proceedings under Section 137(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure and even though a court may not award reimbursement of costs to a party, who fails to meet the mediator without sufficient explanation.
(Decision of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic File No. 32 Cdo 594/2019-467 dated 23 April 2019)