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Clerk Handbooks
Supreme Court Rules



Section/Rule:
17.06

Subject:
Rule 17 - Rules Governing the Missouri Bar and the Judiciary - Alternative Dispute Resolution
Publication / Adopted Date:
October 22, 1996

Topic:
Confidentiality and Settlement
Revised / Effective Date:
July 1, 1997

17.06. Confidentiality and Settlement

(a) An alternative dispute resolution process undertaken pursuant to this Rule 17 shall be regarded as settlement negotiations. Any communication relating to the subject matter of such dispute made during the alternative dispute resolution process by a participant or any other person present at the process shall be a confidential communication. No admission, representation, statement or other confidential communication made in setting up or conducting such process shall be admissible as evidence or subject to discovery, except that, no fact independently discoverable shall be immune from discovery by virtue of having been disclosed in such confidential communication.

(b) No individual or organization providing alternative dispute resolution services pursuant to this Rule 17 or any agent or employee of the individual or organization shall be subpoenaed or otherwise compelled to disclose any matter disclosed in the process of setting up or conducting the alternative dispute resolution process.

(c) Settlement shall be by a written document setting out the essential terms of the agreement executed after the termination of the alternative dispute resolution process.

(d) An individual or organization providing alternative dispute resolution services pursuant to this Rule 17 or any agent or employee of the individual or organization may be called in an action to enforce the written settlement agreement reached following the conclusion of the alternative dispute resolution process for the limited purpose of describing events following the conclusion of the alternative dispute resolution process.

(Adopted Oct. 22, 1996, eff. July 1, 1997.)