Roy baroff
Roy can help you solve problems early and creatively. Here's one of his favorite stories from a mediation:
“I don’t really care if I settle this claim or not!” declared the Claimant while in private caucus.
Roy responded: “Thanks for letting me know your thoughts about settlement and perhaps we should stop our efforts. However, hearing you say that you don’t really care what happens reminds me of a story I once heard. Let me share it with you.”
A young child was walking along the beach with a grandparent and came across a large number of starfish washed ashore.
The child started picking them up, wading into the water and tossing the starfish back into the sea. After about 10 minutes, with the grandparent watching, the grandparent said, “Stop, can’t you see that there are too many starfish on the beach. It doesn’t matter if you keep throwing them back.”
The young child looked at the starfish in hand and then back at their grandparent and said - “It matters to this one.”
Roy ended his story and waited.
The claimant was silent for a moment and then spoke up. “You know, I think it does matter to me about getting this case settled today. Can we keep working on this?”