The Lesson Here Is The Importance of Carefully Drafting Collaborative Law Agreements. How's this for a setup: "Ling and Paul Mueller married in 2009 and separated in 2017. During their marriage, they cultivated cannabis and buried the proceeds on their property." What could possibly go wrong? Plenty. The Muellers engaged in a collaborative […]
California Supreme Court Approves New Rule of Professional Conduct On June 2, 2023. The California Supreme Court approved a much discussed Rule of Professional Conduct requiring lawyers, without undue delay, to report professional misconduct. Much as lawyer misconduct in the Watergate Scandal resulted in professional ethics requirements and testing in California, the Girardi […]
Including Confidentiality Provision In Settlement Of Malpractice Lawsuit Did Not Violate Public Policy, Because Provision Did Not Prevent Reporting To State Medical Board. In Pappas v. Chang and Chang v. Pappas, Nos. A159792 and A160293 (1/2 3/3/22) (Richman, Miller; Kline, conc.), the Court of Appeal affirms the trial court in separate consolidated appeals. In […]
Do You Know What Information Zoom Has About Your Communications? Mediators, arbitrators, litigators, and parties are rightly concerned about the confidentiality of communications. Mediators rely on the mediation confidentiality protections in the California Evidence Code, sections 1119 et seq, and litigators and arbitrators rely on confidentiality agreements. Today, many of us are using online […]
Mediator Jeff Kichaven Spoke About Whether Mediation Is Confidential To The Orange County Bar. On Friday, October 2, 2020, mediator Jeff Kichaven presented a Zoom webinar to the Orange County Bar on the subject: "Guess What? Your Online Mediation Is Not Confidential." Jeff's presentation was jointly sponsored by the ADR section and the Business […]
Trial Judge Parsed Declaration To Determine Whether Statements Were Made By Judge DickranTevrizian (Ret.) In Capacity As Mediator, Arbitrator, Or Director. When an opinion begins, "Leo Tolstoy famously observed that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," you can be sure that you are in for a dismal tale. And the reader's […]
Senate Bill Requiring Disclosure Of Confidentiality Restrictions Is A Compromise That Does Not Require Loosening Of Confidentiality Restrictions. As a consequence of California's Evidence Code provisions, and the California Supreme Court's decision in Cassel v. Superior Court, 51 Cal.4th 113 (2011), mediation confidentiality prevents a party to a mediation from using confidential information obtained […]
Paul J. Dubow Provides Us With The Update. Paul J. Dubow is an experienced mediator and arbitrator in San Francisco. Mr. Dubow writes often about mediation and arbitration topics, serves as an editor for California Litigation, and has authored the arbitration section of the annual update of California law for both the Litigation […]
Confidentiality and Sexual Harassment. Peter J. Marx, an experienced mediator and arbitrator affiliated with Alternative Resolution Centers (ARC) has written a short article entitled, "Confidentiality: Special Considerations In Sexual Harassment Cases." The article is available on the ARC website at this link. Mr. Marx recounts a mediation involving alleged date-rape, alcohol, […]
The Case, Though Unpublished, Is Timely, With California Law Revision Commission Considering Changes In Mediation Confidentiality. Chodosh v. Trotter, et al., D070952 & D070953 (4/1 9/13/17) (Benke, Haller, Dato) (unpublished) offers us a veritable mini-treatise on the mediation confidentiality privilege — most timely, given ongoing efforts by the California Law Revision […]