Author: calmediation
ABA Opinion 518 Aims To Guide Mediators On Avoiding Misleading Communications
How Might ABA Opinion 518 Impact California Mediation Practice? The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Opinion 518 on October 15, 2025 to provide guidance on avoiding misleading communication by mediators. The Opinion distinguishes the mediator’s and advocate’s roles. Attorneys in negotiations puff all the time. Under Opinion 518, mediators are not […]
California Lemon Law in 2025 Now Requires ADR
The Legislature Wants To Lessen The Judicial Burden of Lemon Law Cases. Lemon-law cases in California have shot up in number in recent years. Court filings rose from 15,000 to 25,000 from 2022 to 224. Under Assembly Bill 1755 (AB 1755), mediation between the consumer and the manufacturer must now occur before a suit can […]
Miscellaneous: California Lawyers Association Honors Two Members Of ADR Committee
Jeff Daar And Gary Benton Receive Awards For Past And Continuing Contributions To Alternative Dispute Resolution. The California Lawyers Association held its annual meeting this past weekend at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City. Jeff Daar and Gary Benton received awards for outstanding contributions to the profession and to ADR. Both Jeff and Gary […]
Legislation: State Bar Committee Will Recommend Certification Program For ADR Neutrals
From the California State Bar Website: Alternative Dispute Resolution Certification Working Group. Purpose Effective January 1, 2025, new Business and Professions Code section 6173 requires the State Bar to create a voluntary certification program for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) firms, providers, and practitioners. This program aims to promote adherence to ethical standard for ADR […]
Arbitration, Deadlines: Cal Supreme Court Saves Arbitration Deadline From Preemption By Making It More Palatable.
The Case Is Hohenshelt v. Superior Court. We have written about the Hohenshelt case twice in the Daily Journal. The first time around, the case was in the Court of Appeal. After it was decided by the California Supreme Court, with a majority opinion, some concurrence, and some disagreement, we wrote a second article for […]
Mediation: The Curious Exclusion of Inactive Attorneys From Mediation.
The Case Is Morris S. Getzels v. State Bar. We are pleased to be able to give readers a direct link to our July 2, 2025 Daily Journal article about the Getzels case. The article is entitled “The curious exclusion of inactive attorneys from mediation.” And here is a link: https://calmediation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Getzels-DJ-7-2-25.pdf
Transition To A New Platform
Typepad announced rather precipitously that this blog would become extinct at the end of September 2025. Yikes! We had to scramble to migrate this blog from Typepad to a new platform. Since we have published this blog since 2012, and it has 1200 posts about California mediation and arbitration, it seemed worth expending some time, […]
Arbitration, PAGA: “Headless” PAGA Claims Held Allowable Under Pre-2024 California PAGA Law
A "Headless" PAGA Claims Is Permitted Pre-2024, But Now The Law Has Changed. Headless Statue of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Carole Raddato, photographer. A “headless” PAGA case is one in which the plaintiff abandons […]
Arbitration, Automobiles, Nonsignatories: Cal Sup Ct Ruled Ford Could Not Arbitrate Via Dealer Arbitration Agreement With Customer
The Court Disapproved of Felisilda v. FCA US LLC (2020) To The Extent It Suggested Manufacturers Could Make Use Of Dealers' Arbitration Clauses. An issue knocking about in California Courts of Appeal has been whether Ford Motor Company and other automobile manufacturers could piggyback off arbitration clauses found in the contracts between dealerships and […]