Arbitration Clause Did Create Unilateral Right To Compel Arbitration, And There Was No Precedent To Compel Mediation Members of an LLC ended up in a business dispute leading to a lawsuit followed by defendants’ motion to compel mediation and arbitration. The trial court construed an arbitration agreement as insufficient to allow one party to […]
Requirement to Mediate, Found in One Document, Applies to Integrated Transaction With Several Documents The teaching of Darton v. Park Vasona Gas, Inc., Case No. H037499 (6th Dist. Feb. 14, 2013) (Premo, Acting. P.J., author 3:0) (unpublished) is straightforward: if mediating is a pre-condition to collect attorney fees, one should seek to mediate before […]
Magnitude Of Loss Of Fees Based On Failure To Mediate Eclipses Substantive Win Eclipse Chewing Tobacco. c1871. Library of Congress. Our blog has a sidebar category “Mediation: Condition Precedent” that conveniently summarizes the problem that arose for the plaintiff/respondent/tenant in the next case. The accompanying tobacco label for a solar eclipse provides a graphic […]
Good Faith Effort To Mediate Was Supported By Substantial Authority And Argument That Offer To Mediate Was Made To The Wrong Intermediary Had Been Forfeited On Appeal The DeSantises bought a commercial building occupied by a hospital tenant, only to discover too late that a hospital tenant was on the way out. The DeSantises […]
Mediation Was A Condition Precedent To Litigating And Failure To Mediate Had Earlier Prevented The Homeowner From Suing To Enforce A Settlement Agreement The homeowner (an in pro per attorney) and homeowner’s association (HOA) have been involved in a battle royal resulting in four appeals. Appeal No. 1: trial court dismisses homeowner’s lawsuit […]
For Fee Recovery, Complaint And Cross-Complaint Are Treated As Separate Actions In Frei v. Davey, 124 Cal.App.4th 1506 (2004), the Court of Appeal made it very clear that parties need to pay attention to those pesky provisions requiring that one request mediation before filing suit, or else risk losing attorney’s fees even if […]
. . . And So Party Suing and Prevailing On the Promissory Note Could Recover Fees Without Initiating Mediation We have a sidebar category, "Mediation: Condition Precedent," reflecting the fact that many contracts, such as real estate purchase and sale agreements, and listing agreements, now require a party to mediate before filing a […]
Steep Price for Noncompliance With Mediation Condition Precedent. The object lesson of this next case is that attention really must be paid to those mediation clauses that serve as a condition precedent before a party can initiate litigation or arbitration. In a 2004 case, the Fourth District, Division Three, put teeth into […]