Nielsen vs. Bubba To Try Mediation Again

Bubba “the Love Sponge” Clem and Nielsen are trying to hammer out an out-of-court settlement to Nielsen’s $1 million ratings tapering case against the Tampa-based host, according to InsideRadio.

The parties have filed a joint motion to appoint a U.S. Magistrate Judge to preside over what would be their second mediation hearing.

After more than a year of contentious legal wrangling, the filing suggests the two parties may be ready to bury the hatchet and settle the suit quietly, out of the media glare and without racking up more legal bills. The parties ask the U.S District Court in Tampa for the mediation conference “to take place as soon as is practicable.”

A trial date is set for June 5, 2017.

It won’t be the first time that Nielsen, Clem and his Bubba Radio Network attempted to settle. On July 5 the parties sat down with retired chief judge Dennis Alvarez as mediator but failed to produce even a partial resolution. Since then both sides have been knee-deep in the discovery phase of the trial. The court recently granted Clem’s request to extend the discovery deadline until Jan. 9, 2017 and Clem’s lawyers have said they want to expand the case to include new counterclaims, allegations, and third-party defendants.

Rather than continuing to litigate the bloated, high-stakes case, “The parties have jointly determined that a second mediation conference, led by a United States Magistrate Judge, would be productive and may lead to a resolution of this matter,” the two sides say in the filing. “A second round of mediation is desirable in circumstances such as these: namely, when the parties themselves have evaluated the state of proceedings and jointly determined that the time may be ripe for resolving their dispute.”