Recently, I conducted a successful mediation session regarding a home purchase. The parties had a dispute over access to an adjacent lot also owned by the seller. The deal blew up; they were each alleging the other had breached the purchase agreement. Here’s how we resolved it… … Read more
Read as a PDF The world is falling apart; we are seemingly on the brink of self-destruction. However, for the last three weeks, I have been virtually sequestered, caring for my 94-year-old Mom in a precious post-surgical bubble. Mom and I get along wonderfully well (it really is a wonder), and the time flew by … Read more
Recently, I conducted a successful mediation session regarding a home purchase. The parties had a dispute over access to an adjacent lot also owned by the seller. The deal blew up; they were each alleging the other had breached the purchase agreement. Lawyers were engaged. Fortunately, the standard Residential Purchase Agreement in California requires the parties to mediate before pursuing any legal action. … Read more
People around the world lament the growing inability to discuss disputed matters. Most of us, especially in the litigation world, tend to seek evidence (“facts” and authority) that confirms our positions and beliefs. Most also claim we know more than we really do, and when threatened, hold more firmly to prior beliefs (and also become agitated, defensive, and rigid). … Read more
Last year, someone did the kindest thing for me. I was visiting some friends at their mountain home. We embarked on what was to be a 15-minute walk. Always up for exploring and a challenge, I scrambled up a huge chute of boulders. When I decided it was time to go back, I thought I saw another way out. Before I knew it, I was stuck. Stuck on the side of a mountain on earth that felt like sand slipping hundreds of feet below. For the first time ever, I was scared. I decided that my husband and friends should call Search and Rescue. … Read more
The most amazing thing happened on July 4, 2022. My husband and I had just returned from a trip to England, and we had a surplus of British pounds. Instead of losing more money to the bank for the re-exchange, I reached out to my neighborhood Google Group to see if anyone wanted them for no fee. … Read more
Despite a full day of mediation, your case did not settle. Now that the mediation is over, what can you do to get the case settled? First, the mediation is not over. While the mediation session may be over, the mediation continues. Settlement opportunities are rarely lost.
The best way to decide what to do is to determine why the case did not settle. A deep dive into what impeded settlement that day will help eliminate the impediments and reopen negotiations. … Read more
It was a new year,
And all through the land,
People were scurrying,
For all they had planned.
With joy and great cheer,
They hoped Covid had passed.
Tragedies, losses,
They never could last.
… Read more
The Peace of Wild Things
By Wendell Berry (1968)
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. … Read more
There are many pathways to successful negotiations and solutions that keep parties out of court or get them out of court sooner rather than later. Few litigants prefer to go to or stay in court; they usually see it as a money-losing necessity or a good bet. Whether or not in the legal context, people … Read more