One well known mantra of mediators is that it is always better to mediate prior to filing a lawsuit than to incur the time and expense lawsuits entail. Most lawyers will tell you that litigation is the most expensive and least efficient way of resolving a matter; yet, they will [Read More]
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 [Read More]
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 [Read More]
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” [Read More]
Recently, I wrote about the lack of preparation. This week, I am taking that topic one step further: detachment! I had a bizarre mediation the other day. As usual it was a lemon law matter but this time it involved both the manufacturer and the dealer. Unlike many other instances, [Read More]
Several times in the past, I have discussed the need for each party to prepare for mediation for it to be successful. As you may guess, I return to this topic again because I just conducted a mediation that went nowhere fast because plaintiff was not prepared. It truly did [Read More]
Many mediators in California will acknowledge that most parties in litigated cases do not like joint sessions and prefer to mediate using caucuses or separate sessions only. There are various reasons for this, among them a belief that counsel may lose control of the situation, that the joint session will [Read More]
Mediations and their participants never cease to amaze me. Recently, I mediated a personal injury lawsuit. It should have settled as liability was not an issue. Defendant was not contesting her fault for making a left turn immediately in front of Plaintiff’s vehicle that was proceeding straight. Rather, the issue [Read More]
