Whether experience will show one “model” prevailing or whether we have an environment where mediation is an amalgam of each type driven by the circumstances of the case, one thing is beyond dispute: Mediation is here to stay.
The recent Indiana Court of Appeals decision Jonas v. State Farm Life Ins. Co., ____N.E. 3d ______, 2016 WL 1248589 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016) highlights several issues concerning mediation and settlement in both state and federal courts.
In today’s marketplace, consumers have a choice when purchasing such things as cellphones, banking services and even medical procedures. Sign the contract and get the product. Don’t sign the contract and don’t get the product.
The components of structured negotiation are not new; people resolve problems every day without resorting to litigation. But now the process has been better defined, refined and expanded.
Rensselaer lawyer Samantha Joslyn has handled family law cases filed at the Jasper County courthouse and in several surrounding counties in northwest Indiana. She said whether those cases will be mediated depends in large part on the court where the case is filed.
The Indiana Supreme Court is seeking comments on proposed rule changes that include appellate e-filing and CLE exemptions for judges and attorneys in the military.
Six commercial courts handling specialized dockets of business cases were announced Wednesday in an order of the Indiana Supreme Court.
The United States Supreme Court ruled Monday that satellite provider DirecTV can avoid a class-action lawsuit in California over early termination fees and force customers into private arbitration hearings instead.
Condo conflicts and HOA hostilities can often result in lawsuits and sometimes incredulous headlines. Lawyers have seen disputes arise over everything from where bikes can be stored to whether a condo owner could install hardwood floors.
The legal malpractice case of Cassel v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, 244 P. 3d 1080 (2011), continues to ricochet through the California mediation community and court system, and the issue it raised is now headed to the Legislature.
It is the concept of the peacemaker that so clearly expresses the role of the mediator.
It wasn’t until the 1990s that arbitration began to be seriously considered for family law cases. At that time there was no statute specifically directed to family law arbitration, and Indiana had no caselaw regarding family law arbitration. Our current statute, I.C. 34-57-5-1, et seq, was enacted in 2005. It answered many of the questions attorneys had.
When “reason leaves the room,” an analytical approach can lead a path to dispute resolution.
Steuben County is a test site for a new eldercaring coordination program.
Are statements, offers and demands made during a mediation admissible in a bad-faith case? This issue is presently pending before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and is being watched by many in the mediation community with the hope it will clarify to what extent exceptions will continue to be created to the mediation confidentiality statutes.
Every day, a program in Franklin works with families struggling with divorce, custody battles and child support disputes. The goal is to help resolve arguments, get cases through the court system faster, and help families move on.
Mediation got an early and strong foothold in California in the late 1980s and that state has been an incubation site for several trends in the mediation process – some good, some bad and some perhaps a little ugly.
Mediators say parties don’t always see facts the same way, but a “truth rule” could harm the confidentiality of the process.
By John C. Trimble Trimble All of us who attend or conduct mediation on a regular basis soon come to realize that pessimism is one aspect of mediation that occurs in every mediation session. We learn that if we let pessimism cause us to quit, we would never settle anything. However, pessimism on the part […]
Attorneys find collaborative law allows families to craft their own future.