Once again, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 501, federal privilege law applies to a claim of mediation confidentiality in an action involving both federal and state law claims. In In Re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 14-15916 (filed [Read More]
On July 22, 2016, the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) held its meeting to discuss, among other topics, mediation confidentiality. In preparation for the meeting, Chief Deputy Counsel Barbara Gaal prepared memoranda addressing the use of Preliminary In Camera Filtering processes (Memo 2016-38 and First Supplement to Memo 2016-38) and [Read More]
A few weeks ago, some rulings of the Honorable Holly E. Kendig, Judge of Los Angeles County Superior Court, made the headlines in the local legal newspapers. Those rulings which among other things dismissed the case, were predicated on an earlier ruling which answered the question, “who is a mediator” and discussed [Read More]
The California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) held its latest meeting on April 14, 2016. With respect to mediation confidentiality, the issue under discussion was in camera review. In the latest memo on the topic- Memorandum 2016-18 ( April 4, 2016)- Ms. Barbara Gaal, Chief Deputy Counsel, outlined an extensive procedure [Read More]
On December 10, 2015, the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) met in Los Angeles, Ca to discuss the concept of in camera review as part of its tentative recommendation to create an exception to mediation confidentiality for attorney malpractice and other misconduct. (Since 2012-2013, the CLRC has been extensively studying [Read More]
Several weeks ago, I posted a blog about the proposals voted on by the California Law Revision Commission to make certain changes to mediation confidentiality in California. At its August 8, 2015 meeting, the Commission proposed creating several exceptions to mediation confidentiality that would allow; (1) Both lawyers representing clients [Read More]
Previously published in the September 2015 issue of "Advocate" Magazine, Pages 44-55 The September 2015 issue of Advocate (Journal of Consumer Attorneys Associations for Southern California) focuses on ADR-Choice is Good. I am privileged to contribute an article on mediation confidentiality and re-print it here. It may be found [Read More]
Recently, I posted a blog about the August 2015 meeting of the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) in which as part of its study on the “Relationship between Mediation Confidentiality and Attorney Malpractice and Other Misconduct " (Study K-402), the Commission requested that Staff Counsel draft legislation to include exceptions to [Read More]
