I just finished conducting a mediation (lemon law) which did not settle. And I think the prime reason was that there were too many different attorneys handling the matter. Although in the same firm, they apparently were not communicating with each other or the representative of the client handling the mediation. Plaintiff purchased a vehicle [...]
I stumbled upon an article in mediate.com discussing an empirical study conducted in the Singapore Courts about their use of mediation. The actual article, (How Should the Courts Know Whether a Dispute is Ready and Suitable for Mediation? An Empirical Analysis of the Singapore Courts’ Referral of Civil Disputes to Mediation.) appearing in the Spring [...]
On September 11, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 954 which (when it takes effect on January 1, 2019) will require attorneys to inform their clients of the confidentiality restrictions related to mediation and to obtain their clients’ written acknowledgment that this disclosure has been made to them and that they understand it. While this [...]
Senator John McCain died last Saturday- August 25, 2018. And since then, tributes and remembrances have been pouring in from all over the world. Except for one person: The President of the United States. On Saturday, in a very terse tweet, he sent his condolences and sympathies to Senator McCain’s family, not focusing on the [...]
No doubt, at some point in your life, you have wanted to take revenge against someone who “did you wrong”. It may have been a casual remark that did not sit well with you or an action someone took that upset you greatly or perhaps someone “threw you under the bus” to further her own [...]
Many, many years ago, someone once said to me that people do not begin to negotiate until it is past the time to negotiate. How true this can be as borne out by a recent mediation. The matter involved the purchase and sale of a condo. The mediation was held before any lawsuit was filed. [...]
It happened again. A mediation that went nowhere fast when the defendant attended mediation “because” it was court-ordered. And… defendant offered zero in settlement. It was a property damage case. Plaintiff alleged her vehicle was side swiped while parked on the street overnight. The automobile insurance company had an “expert” look at the damage and [...]
My husband’s stay in the hospital has taught me a very basic lesson: knowing how to resolve disputes is a necessary tool in every aspect of life, especially in stressful situations such as hospital stays. This may get back to the notion discussed in an earlier blog, that some medical professionals forget that they are [...]