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Ed

Mediation news update


I couldn’t resist referencing the Commander Of Cheese’s latest attempt to proclaim himself the great mediator, and causing more damage in the process.

As a mediator you quickly learn that what and how you say anything to any prospective party is important, but suggesting you’ve been appointed by one party who then has to publish a denial is pretty much the worst I’ve seen. The Chief Cheeto made the comments while sat next to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.

India has rejected all calls for third party involvement so their foreign secretary, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, was quick to say “It has been India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally…I would further underline that any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross-border terrorism.”

The comments cause a walk out from opposition members in India’s parliament suggesting that there have been back channel communications with the US directly in contradiction to the government’s stated position on bilateral talks.

Anyone would think that the Don wasn’t thinking when he spoke.

Meanwhile in news about actual mediations (not the flights of fantasy POTUS has) in Israel nurses strikes have been halted following the Labor Court’s ordering of the unions and the government to mediation.

It’s not a wholly satisfactory move as the Nurses may continue to work to rule and the government can cut their pay while talks begin.

You know me I love a good church mediation tale, comes of a youth spent in Sunday school, this week we have a report from Calhoun County Courthouse where first Circuit Court Judge Edgar Dickson has ordered the disputing branches of the church into mediation.

Acknowledging as he did that there are inherent “problems of the court deciding church issues” and so as we have said many times mediation is the best way to deal with “competing interests in this case.” He went on to say that all the parties involved would be attending and that the mediation was to deal with all issues calling it a “global and complete” solution.

The parties involved, the Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC) and a break away group of church members are disputing ownership of properties and what if any damages are payable for improvements to the church buildings on them being handed to one party from another (so called betterment).

The argument about the values stems from a previous decision when the south Carolina supreme court determined that the diocesan property and the property of 29 parishes were effectively held on trust for the Episcopal church and/or TECSC.

The problem of that decision is that the court didn’t rule which parishes made up the 29, a rather unfortunate slip of the drafting pen. The parties have previously tried mediation but without success, hopefully this time having had the direction of the court that mediation is THE place to sort this out they will reach a lasting conclusion.

And in more court ordered mediation Judge Laura Taylor Swain has ordered a $25 billion debt arising from bond sales into mediation to be dealt with rather than via the bankruptcy court.

The judge said she was trying to avoid the chaos caused by claims put forward by bondholders.

All proceedings have been stopped for four months to allow mediation to resolve the disputes.

Creditors will not be able to bring cases challenging the governments proposed reductions in pay-outs during the stay but should attend mediation to resolve their dispute.

You may recall I wrote a few weeks ago during the women’s football (soccer) world cup about the USWNT’s attempts to get equal pay for women players.

Now Hope Solo (not a Star Wars character but a former US goalkeeper) has argued that her separate case should be brought into the mediation.

Her concern is that the current cohort of players have something to lose that she doesn’t, a job, and that the USWNT members are likely to capitulate without getting to the best result.

It’s always tricky in employment cases to ensure that parties are genuinely on a equal footing one party tends to rely on the other for pay and there is always a concern (especially in such esoteric employment as sports) that the job will disappear if you make too much fuss.

Hope says she doesn’t need to worry about that as she’s no longer reliant on the US Soccer Federation for payment.

It seems counter intuitive that in a game where (in the US) there is more money coming in for the Women’s matches the men are still paid more!!

By having a deep and meaningful discussions with parties the mediator elicits what the true “red-lines” are and where there is the potential for compromise, it is with this structured period of reflection that the parties are then able to reach an accord.

The flexible nature of mediation and the possible outcomes make it an ideal way to resolve disputes in an ever changing world and the open nature of discussions in mediation whilst remaining confidential allows all sides to engage fully in the process and understand the needs of all involved allowing parties to reach a conclusion which both sides can live with and move on.

There are so many situations which could have been resolved by early intervention of mediation it continues to surprise me the lengths the public (and some lawyers) will go to avoid referral.

Whether you need a mediator to help out with a construction matter in the Northwest, or council’s plans in Cheshire, a civil mediator in London, a commercial mediator in Manchester, a dispute resolution for your family in Liverpool, a neighbourhood mediation in Stockport, then our mediators at Northwest Mediation can help.

Mediation is cheaper, quicker and less stressful than running any case to court, it can help with any dispute whether it's an employment issue or the sale at an under value of a property, a fight with a neighbour, housing association, family issues, commercial disputes, civil mediation or inheritance, wills and probate arguments contact Northwest Mediation on 07931318347 or via email at ed.johnson@northwestmediation.co.uk

neighbour mediation; commercial dispute resolution; civil mediation; commercial dispute; corporate dispute; commercial mediator; family mediation; inheritance wills probate mediation; property mediator; civil mediator; civil litigation; fast track mediation; injury mediation

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