October 23, 2008
New Jersey Supreme Court Announces Statewide Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program - The Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court announced the statewide roll-out of a mandatory mortgage foreclosure mediation program this month. Based on a successful pilot project in one of the state's district courts, the program will require mediation for all owner-occupied foreclosure cases contested by homeowners. Where cases are uncontested, courts will contact homeowners about the mediation program and encourage them to participate; in these cases, homeowners will still have the option to mediate even after a default judgment has been entered. Mediations will be conducted by court volunteers. The program will be implemented in six more counties by mid-November, and will be expanded to the rest of the state's 21 counties by the end of the year.
To read the New Jersey Judiciary's press release on the mortgage foreclosure mediation program, click here.
October 15, 2008
Ohio County Court Adopts Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program - Sandusky County Court in Ohio launched a mortgage foreclosure mediation program at the beginning of October, in response to a substantial increase in foreclosures in the county. According to an article in The News-Messenger, the program allows homeowners to request mediation if they also agree to participate in a credit counseling program and allow a certified appraisal of their home. Mediations are conducted by the county's staff attorney.
The program is based on a model developed by the Ohio Supreme Court earlier this year. Chief Justice Thomas Moyer has called on all Ohio judges with jurisdiction over foreclosure cases to use mediation to resolve those disputes. Mortgage foreclosures in Ohio increased 40% between 2003 and 2007.
For more information about the Sandusky County foreclosure program, click here. For more information about the Ohio Supreme Court program model, click here.
October 15, 2008
Florida County Court Launches Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program - Responding to a 200% increase in the number of mortgage foreclosures in the county in 2008, Seminole County Court in Florida launched a mortgage foreclosure mediation program in July. Mediation is mandatory for all owner-occupied residential mortgage foreclosure disputes. The lender's counsel is required to coordinate the mediation session and the lender is responsible for paying the $200 mediation fee. Mediations may be conducted by a Supreme Court-certified mediator, or through the county's mediation department. A representative for the lender with full authority to settle may attend the mediation by telephone, but lender's counsel, the defendant and defendant's counsel must attend in person.
To read the court order establishing the mediation program, click here. To read an article about the program from the Orlando Sentinel, click here.
September 4, 2008
Minnesota Court of Appeals Launches Family Mediation Pilot Program - The Minnesota Court of Appeals began a pilot mediation program for family law appeals this month. According to an article about the program in Minnesota Lawyer, all family law appeals will be sent to mediation, and mediation costs will be paid by the parties. In its August 29 order establishing the program, the Supreme Court explained that the goal of the project is to "facilitate an efficient, amicable, and cost-effective model for resolving family law appeals."
To read the Supreme Court's order, click here.
September 3, 2008
RSI Releases Spring/Summer 2008 Newsletter - The latest edition of RSI's newsletter, Analyzing the Alternatives, is now available online. The issue includes a feature on a recent report from the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution's Task Force on Improving Mediation Quality, which identified four essential practices mediators and lawyers could follow to improve the quality of their mediations. The newsletter also includes an update on RSI's Statewide Mediation Access Project, which seeks to improve access to mediation services for poor and low-income disputants in Illinois.
To read the Spring/Summer 2008 edition of Analyzing the Alternatives, click here.
August 21, 2008
California Court Rules Chart Written in Mediation not Confidential - A California appellate court ruled this month that a chart written and signed by parties during mediation constituted a settlement agreement and was eligible for disclosure, overturning an earlier trial court decision. The chart did not include any language identifying it as a settlement agreement, but the Second Appellate District Court held that the parties and terms of obligation were sufficiently identified in the chart to establish it as an agreement. According to Section 1123 of the California Evidence Code, a settlement agreement reached in mediation is not protected from disclosure if it meets any of four specified conditions, including Subsection (c), which states, "all parties to the agreement expressly agree in writing, or orally … to its disclosure." The court held that this requirement was satisfied by the confidentiality agreement signed by the parties prior to mediation, which stated that matters discussed in mediation would remain confidential and not be used in litigation "except as may be necessary to enforce any agreements resulting from the meeting."
To read the full opinion of the case, Thottam v. Thottam, click here.
August 20, 2008
New York Courts Set Neutral Qualification Guidelines - The New York Chief Administrative Judge issued in June the state's first-ever qualification and training guidelines for neutrals involved in court-related ADR programs. The guidelines set prerequisites for appointment to the rosters of neutrals maintained by local district courts. To be eligible to serve as a neutral evaluator, a person must be a lawyer or judge with at least five years of experience in the subject area of the cases that will be referred to them, as well as six hours of training in neutral evaluation procedures and ethics. To serve as a mediator, a person must have 24 hours of training in basic mediation skills and 16 hours of training in the subject area of cases that will be referred to them, as well as recent experience mediating such cases. According to an article on Law.com, neutral qualifications had previously been set by administrative judges in the district courts.
For the full version of the New York guidelines, click here. For the article on Law.com, click here.
