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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 9. CIVIL PRACTICE · Chapter 17. GEORGIA UNIFORM MEDIATION ACT

9-17-1. Definitions.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. As used in this chapter, the term:

  2. (1)

    “Mediation” means a process in which a mediator facilitates communication and negotiation between parties to assist them in reaching a voluntary agreement regarding their dispute.#

  3. (2)

    “Mediation communication” means a statement, whether oral or in a record or verbal or nonverbal, that occurs during a mediation or is made for purposes of considering, conducting, participating in, initiating, continuing, terminating, or reconvening a mediation or retaining a mediator.#

  4. (3)

    “Mediation party” means a person that participates in a mediation and whose agreement is necessary to resolve the dispute.#

  5. (4)

    “Mediator” means an individual who conducts a mediation, or if conducting a mediation pursuant to the Supreme Court of Georgia Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules governing the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms by the courts of this state, an individual qualified to mediate under such rules.#

  6. (5)

    “Nonparty participant” means a person, other than a mediation party or mediator, that participates in a mediation, including a representative of a party.#

  7. (6)

    “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial entity.#

  8. (7)

    “Proceeding” means:#

    1. (A)

      A judicial, administrative, arbitral, or other adjudicative process, including related pre-hearing and post-hearing motions, conferences, and discovery; or#

    2. (B)

      A legislative hearing or similar process.#

  9. (8)

    “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.#

  10. (9)

    “Sign” means:#

    1. (A)

      To execute or adopt a tangible symbol with the present intent to authenticate a record; or#

    2. (B)

      To attach or logically associate an electronic symbol, sound, or process to or with a record with the present intent to authenticate a record.#

Reading note: a word broken across two lines in the printed volume was joined by rule and could not be checked against the volume's own vocabulary. The official page linked below settles any doubt.

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 9-17-1, enacted by Ga. L. 2021, p. 646, § 2/SB 234.

Law reviews

For article with annual survey on trial practice and procedure, see 73 Mercer L. Rev. 265 (2021). For article with annual survey on domestic relations, see 73 Mercer L. Rev. 89 (2021).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t9-ch12-17-(v7a)-pdf.pdf, Volume V7A, 2015 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 59 to 60; merge action: added; file SHA-256 3ebff39d34dd.