With the limited access to courts and lawyers mediation is even more so now than ever the best choice to find a resolution for your dispute. Get your dispute resolved now while you can’t go anywhere you can really concentrate on what’s important and what deserves your time and energy.
Northwest Mediation uses Zoom, Skype and FaceTime as well as the phone and emails to resolve disputes so please do not feel that you cannot contact us as there are limits on physical meetings. Whilst we may be moving back to in person meetings shortly we appreciate many client will still want to work remotely until a greater proportion of the country has been jabbed once (or twice) talk to Northwest Mediation we will fit round your needs.
Family mediation on the world stage first up in this week’s news. The Jordanian King Abdullah II and his half brother Prince Hamzah has been mediated to a satisfactory resolution.
Hamzah had been accused of trying to overthrow the regime, Hamzah had in turn said he was speaking out against corruption (in a government run by a royal family surely not) the King’s uncle mediated between the two factions at a meeting at his home (the Royal Hashemite Court) before Hamzah reaffirmed his loyalty to the king and the regime.
A professional mediator from the Institution Quraysh for Law and Policy was also involved, Malik R Dahlan, who said that the meeting had been “successful and I expect a resolution soon” adding that “the regrettable incident was the result of the clumsy actions of a senior security official and misrepresentation by a government official” in what should have stayed “a family matter”.
Too often the miscommunication in a family or business is at the heart of a dispute which when discussed openly and honestly it becomes apparent that neither party had intended any of the consequences which flowed from a third party’s well intended actions.
In my weekly mediation should be first port of call in all landlord and tenant disputes rant we’re in Fresno this week.
The City Council has proposed a rental mediation program for when the Covid moratorium on evictions ends to prevent unlawful evictions (technically one could argue that if they are unlawful they should already be protected from eviction but I guess they mean to reduce the risk of accidentally unlawful evictions and reduce the numbers in all situations!).
The city council’s president, Luis Chavez, said of the Keep Fresno Housed program “Too often, Fresnans unfamiliar with housing laws have faced legally questionable eviction efforts by landlords…With Keep Fresno Housed, the City of Fresno stands prepared to level the playing field and ensure that residents are not unlawfully ushered out of the comfort and safety of their homes.”
The tenants will be able to refer their cases to city paid mediators for review and consideration before the mediators begin work with both sides in each case.
Luis added that he intends the program to be part and parcel of the legal process for housing eviction cases and is working with the Fresno County Superior Court civil division to ensure it is assimilated.
Do I need to say CJC take note?
Idaho will enter court ordered mediation with two defendants over the various charges arising from the Defendants’ trespass at the statehouse in August last year.
Ammon Bundy and Aaron Von Schmidt (neither are pictured here) face charges including trespass but also obstructing and resisting officers during protests outside and inside the state building.
Ammon is an alleged anti-vaxer, anti-lockdown, anti-mask (and I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest he sounds the kind of guy who is probably pro-gun lobby). Whilst mediation is always a sensible place to start disputes particularly when views are entrenched (or those views have led to actions which lead to the case) I would not criticise you for being sceptical about the commitment to the process of the parties in this instance, however, I always say to clients you can be surprised how engaging people can be in mediation even if you think they are going to come in (metaphorically) all guns blazing.
The fact that Ammon left the case management conference at which the mediation was ordered before it finished should, of course, not be seen as a rejection of the process, he probably had to feed the meter.
When I read the headline I was reminded of that scene from “The Untouchables” when Capone carries his own baseball analogy to a rather grisly outcome but thankfully on reading the article baseball mediation turns out to be we refer to as med-arb, where the mediator switches from mediation to arbitration by agreement with the parties.
In the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri an arbitration award following such a baseball mediation session has been confirmed. Clayco Inc had been in dispute with a sub-contractor with whom the contract provided a 13 paragraph ADR process including at the election of Clayco the movement to baseball mediation if the mediation did not reach a resolution. In the process both sides are able to make a once and final offer and leave it to the, now, arbitrator to decide which is the better option.
The judgment against the sub-contractor which took issue only after the decision had been made quoting Marino v. Writers Guild of America, East, Inc., 992 F.2d 1480 (9th Cir. 1993) said “a party may not sit idle through an arbitration procedure and then collaterally attack that procedure on grounds not raised before the arbitrators when the result turns out to be adverse,”
As we’ve said before choose to mediate early and resolve your issues effectively, timeously, and with less stress and costs than going to your solicitor so you can get out the tunnel and see the light. You have an interest in the outcome the sooner you get round the mediation table the quicker you can move forward and avoid the grilling a cross examination in court would put you through.
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 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, 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
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