In last week’s blog, I mentioned one paradox (competition and cooperation) discussed by Bernard Mayer in his book, The Conflict Paradox (ABA and Jossey-Bass, 2015). A second one is avoidance and engagement. Like the first paradox, on superficial glance, avoidance and engagement appear to be polar opposites. But, upon deeper [Read More]
In November 2015, I discussed a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision- Campbell Ewald Company v Gomez, 768 F. 3d 781 (9th Cir. 2014)- in which that court held that where Plaintiff rejects Defendant’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 68 Offer of Judgment offering plaintiff all of the relief [Read More]
Depending upon where one mediates within the United States, the mediator either will start the mediation with a joint session or will simply start with separate sessions so that the adverse parties may, indeed, never see each other. For some reason, using joint sessions is popular on the east coast [Read More]
Recently, I attended the California State Bar Convention. One presentation was entitled “Tackling Emotion in Mediation: Tips for Dealing with People in Conflict.” The panelists were Claudia Hagadus Long, Esq.; David M. Miller, Esq. and Randy Kolin, Psy.D. Based on the many, many mediations I have conducted, I have found [Read More]
I conducted a mediation the other day in which both sides professed that they wanted to settle the matter as the trial would be a “big distraction” but were stymied in their efforts due to personality conflicts. (They both wanted to settle as they did not want to have anything [Read More]
A colleague (Esther Bleuel) recently shared a quote by Benjamin Franklin: “Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail.” Recently, the Los Angeles Daily Journal published an article by Larry Mills entitled, How Counsel can make or break a settlement. (April 3, 2015- page 2 of Verdicts and Settlements). In essence, [Read More]
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]
The First Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal published, then depublished (California Rule of Court 8.1105), then certified for publication a decision holding that a printed name and address at the end of an e-mail allegedly confirming the terms of a settlement do NOT constitute an enforceable settlement [Read More]
