In disputes involving money, the usual scenario is that the plaintiff wants more money than the defendant is willing to pay. So, they go to a mediator who nudges the plaintiff to accept a little less and the defendant to pay a little more. The adage is that a settlement [Read More]
My first mediation of 2015 settled based on pragmatism. It was a lemon law matter filed under California's Song Beverly Consumer Warranty Act - Civil Code Section 1792 et seq. Plaintiff purchased the vehicle from a neighbor somewhat on a whim, thinking she would use it for commuting. Unfortunately, Plaintiff [Read More]
No doubt, you have read some interesting book or article and the next thing you know, it is playing out in real life. Well, this blog is about just that. I am still trying to muddle through Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, [Read More]
The other day, I conducted two mediations between the same plaintiff's counsel, the same defendants and their counsel. The only different party in the two mediations was the plaintiff. One mediation was to start in the morning and the next in early afternoon, figuring each would take about 3 hours. [Read More]
I had an interesting mediation the other day. I say "interesting" as I am not sure what other adjective to use.Like most of my mediations, it involved an automobile. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant, a used car dealer, misrepresented several important details in the financing of the used automobile [Read More]
Over the last couple of months, I have posted blogs entitled Anger Management (June 13, 2014), Good Faith (July 3, 2014); Listening for the Emotions (July 18, 2014); Which System is In Control? (July 25, 2014) and Vengeance Shall Never be Yours August 1, 2014). On numerous occasions, I have also [Read More]
As a mediator specializing in "lemon law" cases, I work with many of the same plaintiffs' and defense counsel over and over again. They also work with each other over and over again, as well. These two points can be good... and can be bad as I quickly found out [Read More]
It Helps to Listen!A few weeks ago, a colleague Esther C. Bleuel posted an article about hearing and listening, noting that the only thing these two concepts have in common is our two ears. As we know, "hearing" is not the same as "listening." To quote Ms. Bleuel, "...the purpose [Read More]
