As a mediator who handles a lot of "lemon" law matters, I have mediated many cases in which an alleged violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is one of the claims. Last fall, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion involving this Act. Recently, it withdrew its opinion [Read More]
On February 23, 2012, Assembly Bill 2025 (ab_2025_bill_20120223_introduced) was introduced in the California legislature. The intent of the bill was to abolish mediation confidentiality with respect to "... communications between a client and his or her attorney during mediation, in an action for legal malpractice or breach of fiduciary duty [Read More]
Science never ceases to amaze me. Now there is a study that finds that being too happy is not a good thing. According to an article in the April 2, 2012 edition of The Washington Post entitled "Too much happiness can make you unhappy, studies show", one can be less [Read More]
If you have ever mediated a case with me (and most of you have not), you know that I crack jokes, especially in the opening joint session. There is a method to my madness; to take the tension out of the situation and try to put the parties at ease. [Read More]
Several weeks ago, I posted a blog about California Assembly bill AB 2025 which would abolish mediation confidentiality in very limited circumstances; namely, in actions "... for legal malpractice, an action for breach of fiduciary duty, or both, or in a State Bar disciplinary action..." communications directly between the client [Read More]
Most mediators I know are passionate about their work and about bringing peace to the world. We like to think of ourselves as "peacemakers" and that our goal is to assist others in resolving disputes. Consequently, we may not always focus on the fact that mediation is a business or [Read More]
As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I mediate an awful lot of "lemon law" cases. Frequently, the issue is whether the defendant manufacturer will "repurchase" the vehicle, or pay the plaintiff consumer a "sufficient" amount of money to entice her to keep the car, also known as a "cash [Read More]
ast Thursday, February 23, 2012, Assembly Member Wagner introduced AB 2025 before the Californai State Legislature. The proposal seeks to create an exception to mediation confidentiality by amending Section 1120 of the California Evidence Code to allow the introduction of evidence: (4) ...in an action for legal malpractice, an action [Read More]
