The Civil Conciliation Office resolved 30% of cases: what is the most common demand?

This procedure is mandatory for all parties before reaching a civil court. It covers the following matters: damages ; consumer proceedings (except for small claims); contract enforcement; debt collection; deed registration; eviction; accounting; repayment; simulation and/or fraud, among others.

According to data provided to Los Andes by the Undersecretary of Justice, headed by Undersecretary Marcelo D' Agostino , the OCC's electronic management system has received 11,000 procedures (110 claims per day) during this period, and 4,500 initial hearings have already been held.

Marcelo D'Agostino-archive

Los Andes Archive

That is, 2,650 conciliations were completed, and 1,850 are still in progress, given that the process proposes an initial resolution period of 30 business days, but also an extension for another 30 days, with the aim of reaching an agreement and preventing lawsuits from reaching court.

It's worth noting that after the first hearing, the parties may terminate the conciliation at any time. The conciliator then issues the closing minutes, and if there is no agreement, the notarized document will be required for the actual filing of the lawsuit.

Conciliations for individuals and legal entities are processed exclusively by lawyers, who have access to the system through the IOL (Supreme Court of Justice System). It should be noted that the process is free to initiate , although fees may be charged afterward, in the event of an agreement or a failure.

The First District (Greater Mendoza and Lavalle) is where most of the procedures are carried out. As an example, according to official data from the June-July period, of the 1,768 hearing requests entered into the system, 76% were in the metropolitan area.

Conciliation Office - Districts

While the remaining 24% was divided between the South of the province (Second District) and the East (Third District) with 10% on each side and finally, the Uco Valley (Fourth District) with 4%.

Statistics show that the majority of cases initiated for damages and injuries resulting from traffic accidents are largely related to other matters.

The graph shows that these disputes account for 56% of the total, followed by damages (excluding traffic accidents) at 13%.

Conciliation Office - conciliations initiated

These are followed by: breach of contract and consumer proceedings (excluding minor cases) at 8%; debt collection (6%); eviction (4%); and monitoring structure proceedings (1%).

Similarly, among the 795 settlements reached by the Civil Conciliation Office between February and July, 46% were for damages resulting from traffic accidents , following the same logic. In second place overall was the subject of "damages" at 29%.

Below are breaches of contract at 8%, consumption at 5%, collection of pesos (4%), eviction (4%), monitoring (3%) and various (1%).

Conciliation Office - percentages resolved

The Undersecretariat of Justice warned that the OCC will have a direct impact on cases involving damages related to traffic accidents, since according to official data for 2024, 19% of the claims filed with the Civil Court related to this matter.

In contact with this newspaper, Marcelo D' Agostino expressed optimism regarding the 30% of agreements reached in just six months , as this represents an "upward trend" , since in the first months of operation, agreements were reached at up to 10%.

" The parties are using the system, and that's a good thing . At first, they said, 'I don't want to settle, I'll go to court ,' but they've realized it's a good tool, and so the settlement rate is rising . Today, we're at 30%, which is a lot for 100 business days," the provincial official said.

Currently, the Civil and Commercial Conciliation Office has a staff of 56 conciliation lawyers , distributed in:

• First District (Greater Mendoza): 45
• Second District (South Province): 4
• Third District (East of the province): 5
• Fourth District (Uco Valley): 2

This week, the Undersecretariat of Justice launched a competition for mediators in the Second District, to improve services in San Rafael, General Alvear, and Malargüe . Forty-nine have already applied.

The Undersecretariat clarified that "the system is self-funding," because a fee is paid to formalize the hearings, and the conciliators (those who mediate between the two parties) are paid more if an agreement is reached, rather than if the conciliation process itself fails.

While the process for requesting conciliation is free , it must be initiated with the representation of an attorney to guarantee the rights of the parties in the instance.

In the event of an agreement, the parties pay fees that are a percentage of the same : salary rate, professional contributions and fixed right as provided by Laws 5059 and 4976, which are assumed, as they agree.

In case of failure, the conciliator's fees are 1/25 JUS (approximately $22,000 at current value) and are paid by the financing fund provided for in Law 9388.