Menu
Mediation
ABA Webinar: Preparing for Mediation: Spending Client Dollars Wisely
June 16, 2014
Panelist(s): John M Barkett Maura A Smith Therese Vande Hey This program will cover the attributes of good preparation for mediation. Some of the topics include: Proper evaluation of the claims or defenses Identifying critical legal issues Understanding evidentiary problems And several more elements necessary for thorough preparation How important is preparation to the success of mediation? If the goal is a successful mediation, the answer is, "very." Yet invariably one party,...
June 16, 2014
Panelist(s): John M Barkett Maura A Smith Therese Vande Hey This program will cover the attributes of good preparation for mediation. Some of the topics include: Proper evaluation of the claims or defenses Identifying critical legal issues Understanding evidentiary problems And several more elements necessary for thorough preparation How important is preparation to the success of mediation? If the goal is a successful mediation, the answer is, "very." Yet invariably one party,...
Bankruptcy Mediation On the Rise
June 13, 2014
According to panelists at the latest American Bankruptcy Institute’s conference in New York, mediation in bankruptcy cases is on the rise. Increasingly, bankruptcy courts are using mediation to help manage their caseloads and to find solutions to the difficult issues that even the most skilled bankruptcy professionals struggle to resolve. At the same time, debtors are turning to mediation to avoid prolonged and expensive litigation. Bankruptcy professionals are slowly changing their attitudes...
June 13, 2014
According to panelists at the latest American Bankruptcy Institute’s conference in New York, mediation in bankruptcy cases is on the rise. Increasingly, bankruptcy courts are using mediation to help manage their caseloads and to find solutions to the difficult issues that even the most skilled bankruptcy professionals struggle to resolve. At the same time, debtors are turning to mediation to avoid prolonged and expensive litigation. Bankruptcy professionals are slowly changing their attitudes...
Book Review: Short and Happy Guide to Mediation by Will Pryor
May 13, 2014
Will Pryor’s “Short and Happy Guide to Mediation” is both. You can read it in a sitting, and probably will. But it covers...
May 13, 2014
Will Pryor’s “Short and Happy Guide to Mediation” is both. You can read it in a sitting, and probably will. But it covers...
A Short & Happy Guide to Mediation
April 23, 2014
Disputing would like to congratulate Dallas-area alternative dispute resolution professional Will Pryor on the publication...
April 23, 2014
Disputing would like to congratulate Dallas-area alternative dispute resolution professional Will Pryor on the publication...
Class Mediation A Factor in Finding No Collusion
April 7, 2014
Use of mediation in arriving at a class action settlement is a factor in favor of the court finding no collusion, but is not dispositive even if the mediator is a retired judge. Prior to approval, the court required detailed evidence concerning the mediation and negotiations of the settlement agreements, including the mediation statements and other documents concerning mediation offered by the parties. Four in One Co. v. S.K. Foods, No. 2:08-cv-3017 KJM EFB (U.S.D.C. E.D. Cal., January 2, 2014)
April 7, 2014
Use of mediation in arriving at a class action settlement is a factor in favor of the court finding no collusion, but is not dispositive even if the mediator is a retired judge. Prior to approval, the court required detailed evidence concerning the mediation and negotiations of the settlement agreements, including the mediation statements and other documents concerning mediation offered by the parties. Four in One Co. v. S.K. Foods, No. 2:08-cv-3017 KJM EFB (U.S.D.C. E.D. Cal., January 2, 2014)
Study: People Prefer Mediation in Civil Cases
February 28, 2014
From the article with the above title (Sacramento Business Journal): People involved in civil lawsuits prefer mediation to nonbinding arbitration and like judge trials better than jury trials, a new study by a University of California Davis law professor concludes. Overall, litigants like mediation, trials before judges and negotiations that include participants along with their attorneys more than all other forms of alternative dispute resolution, the study by Donna Shestowsky shows.
February 28, 2014
From the article with the above title (Sacramento Business Journal): People involved in civil lawsuits prefer mediation to nonbinding arbitration and like judge trials better than jury trials, a new study by a University of California Davis law professor concludes. Overall, litigants like mediation, trials before judges and negotiations that include participants along with their attorneys more than all other forms of alternative dispute resolution, the study by Donna Shestowsky shows.
Ontario Court Imposes Costs for Sham Mediation
February 26, 2014
An Ontario, Canada, court ordered defendant to pay C$60,000 in costs for “sham” mediation after a C$248,000 verdict was rendered against it. Defendant’s counsel had agreed to briefly mediate but wrote that defendant was “not interested in settling” and then stood firm on its modest offer in the mediation. The court did not rely on any other details from or about the mediation, but noted in imposing costs that a C$50,000 gap between the offer and demand required a six-day trial. Ross...
February 26, 2014
An Ontario, Canada, court ordered defendant to pay C$60,000 in costs for “sham” mediation after a C$248,000 verdict was rendered against it. Defendant’s counsel had agreed to briefly mediate but wrote that defendant was “not interested in settling” and then stood firm on its modest offer in the mediation. The court did not rely on any other details from or about the mediation, but noted in imposing costs that a C$50,000 gap between the offer and demand required a six-day trial. Ross...
Mediation Conduct Punished by Costs
February 10, 2014
Should the conduct of a party in mediation be taken into account in setting cost consequences once the dispute has been adjudicated? An insurer has been “spanked” to the tune of $60,000 by an Ontario Court for failure to participate in a mediation in “any meaningful sense”. The cost decision of Mr. Justice Ramsay in Ross v. Bacchus, 2013 ONSC 7773 (CanLII) creates the occasion to reflect on this important issue. Briefly, the case facts are that the plaintiff, injured in a motor vehicle...
February 10, 2014
Should the conduct of a party in mediation be taken into account in setting cost consequences once the dispute has been adjudicated? An insurer has been “spanked” to the tune of $60,000 by an Ontario Court for failure to participate in a mediation in “any meaningful sense”. The cost decision of Mr. Justice Ramsay in Ross v. Bacchus, 2013 ONSC 7773 (CanLII) creates the occasion to reflect on this important issue. Briefly, the case facts are that the plaintiff, injured in a motor vehicle...
Updating the Multi-Door Courthouse
December 11, 2013
The classic notion of a “multidoor” courthouse needs in order to be significantly reformed based on experience and current needs in order to develop efficient court screening processes for determining which cases will benefit from mediation and which will not, according to Barry Edwards in “Renovating the Multi-Door Courthouse: Designing Trial Court Dispute Resolution Systems to Improve Results and Control Costs” (Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Spring 2013). The lengthy...
December 11, 2013
The classic notion of a “multidoor” courthouse needs in order to be significantly reformed based on experience and current needs in order to develop efficient court screening processes for determining which cases will benefit from mediation and which will not, according to Barry Edwards in “Renovating the Multi-Door Courthouse: Designing Trial Court Dispute Resolution Systems to Improve Results and Control Costs” (Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Spring 2013). The lengthy...
Doug Noll’s Advanced Legal Negotiation Master Class Tomorrow Featuring Picture It Settled
December 2, 2013
Learn how to exploit lawyer predictability in mediation using concession planning. When: Tuesday, December 3, 2013 Time: 9:00 am Pacific/Noon Eastern Length: 60 minutes Cost: $49.99 What participant's say about these webinars: "I had an intense mediation yesterday, an employment case with a lot of hard feelings and an opposing attorney who lost her professional distance. Your latest webinar helped me prepare myself & the clients. But better still, it helped me help a very...
December 2, 2013
Learn how to exploit lawyer predictability in mediation using concession planning. When: Tuesday, December 3, 2013 Time: 9:00 am Pacific/Noon Eastern Length: 60 minutes Cost: $49.99 What participant's say about these webinars: "I had an intense mediation yesterday, an employment case with a lot of hard feelings and an opposing attorney who lost her professional distance. Your latest webinar helped me prepare myself & the clients. But better still, it helped me help a very...
