| Thomas Valenti, P.C. |
November 2009 |
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 November Mediation News
From Thomas Valenti, P.C. |
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What is Mediation?
Mediation is a process in which a neutral and impartial third party (the mediator) facilitates communication between negotiating parties which may enable them to reach an agreement. Mediation is an efficient and cost effective method for the resolution of both simple and complex cases.
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"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Winston Churchill
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From Our Blog...
New Orleans Re-Visited - Obama - Who is "On the List" ?
A handful of volunteer mediators and trainers from Mediators Beyond Borders just returned from New Orleans. We and several others spent a week there in March spread out over different parts of the city. This trip, we were in the Lower Ninth Ward.
I stood with a couple hundred of the hopeful faithfuls on Thursday the 16th outside Martin Luther King Charter School where President Obama was due to visit. Arriving early, I bumped into a few friends who were anxiously waiting in line claiming that their name was "on the list." Most notably was Ronald W. Lewis, clutching a copy of "House of Dance and Feathers," the newest book from the Neighborhood Story Project at Octavia Books. Lewis figures prominently in the book about the museum he built in his backyard.
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Texas County Adopts ADR System
Hays County, Texas, recently adopted a court ADR system to provide voluntary mediation services for family and civil disputes. Cases will be mediated by a local community mediation organization, Central Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution. According to Newstreamz San Marcos, CTADR will limit the cases it will mediate to civil disputes for less than $50,000 and divorce cases where the couple makes less than $60,000 combined. The county court will institute new filing fees to fund the program.
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"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools speak because they have to say something."
- Plato |
New Hampshire Launches Appellate Mediation Program
A program launched by the New Hampshire Office of Mediation and Arbitration this month offers appellate mediation for civil cases. Mediation is voluntary, and cases will be mediated by retired judges. Each party will be required to pay a $200 mediation fee. Counsel for both parties are required to attend the mediation session in person, but parties themselves may attend "electronically" if both parties agree.
Read more here...
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"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."
- William Ellery Channing
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Ohio Legislator Proposes Mandatory Foreclosure Mediation
A bill proposed by an Ohio legislator this month would make mediation mandatory for most foreclosures of owner-occupied homes in the state. Mediations would be conducted by mediators who meet training requirements set by the court. The bill proposes a new $500 filing fee for foreclosure cases, to be paid by the lender, in order to fund the new program.
The Ohio court system was one of the first in the country to adopt foreclosure mediation programs; since 2008, each county in the state has offered a voluntary mediation program. However, it is unclear how successful these programs have been. The 2008 annual report on Ohio's Save the Dream program, which is geared toward preventing foreclosures, reported that collecting information on the effectiveness of the new mediation programs was difficult because each county recorded and maintained data differently.
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"Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow but a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day."
- Indian Proverb
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Family Law, Family Business Disputes, Employment Disputes, Probate Disputes |
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Visit our blog by clicking here - you'll find arbitration and mediation articles, as well as some of the humorous side of law.
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