COURTHOUSE TO CONFERENCE ROOM: TRANSITIONING FROM THE BENCH TO PRIVATE MEDIATOR
Most trial lawyers and insurance company adjusters are "old pros" when it comes to mediating a personal injury case. But, if old dogs can learn something new, then re-thinking the mediation of personal injury cases may prove helpful. Let's assume the following fact pattern: A worker was injured in a fall while descendi...
PREPARATION FOR ORAL ARGUMENT OF YOUR APPEAL
Most trial lawyers and insurance company adjusters are "old pros" when it comes to mediating a personal injury case. But, if old dogs can learn something new, then re-thinking the mediation of personal injury cases may prove helpful. Let's assume the following fact pattern: A worker was injured in a fall while descendi...
EARLY MEDIATION YIELDS SUPERIOR RESULTS IN MANY CASES
Most trial lawyers and insurance company adjusters are "old pros" when it comes to mediating a personal injury case. But, if old dogs can learn something new, then re-thinking the mediation of personal injury cases may prove helpful. Let's assume the following fact pattern: A worker was injured in a fall while descendi...
PREPARING FOR A SUCCESSFUL MEDIATION – IT'S ELEMENTARY!
Most trial lawyers and insurance company adjusters are "old pros" when it comes to mediating a personal injury case. But, if old dogs can learn something new, then re-thinking the mediation of personal injury cases may prove helpful. Let's assume the following fact pattern: A worker was injured in a fall while descendi...
PREPARING YOUR WITNESS AND YOURSELF FOR A TRIAL OR ARBITRATION
During my fifteen years as a Judge, I have heard the testimony of hundreds of witnesses in all types of proceedings. As a trial attorney in private practice, I prepared a great number of witnesses to testify. Even with the best preparation, my father, who was a great trial lawyer, would say he would die a thousand deaths whe...
ADDRESSING LEGAL ISSUES WITH THE MEDIATOR AND TIMING IN SEEKING AN EVALUATION
Many cases that come to mediation involve novel questions of law. Invariably, there will be a dispute as to the proper law applicable to the case and the interpretation of appellate decisions that impact upon same. It is common for parties in the context of their pre-mediation brief to cite case law with a summarization of t...
CLEARER PLAYER DISCIPLINARY PROCESS CAN HELP RESTORE NFL'S LUSTER
In the wake of criticism of the National Football League (NFL) and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, over the handling of domestic violence issues, there is an opportunity for the league to establish clearer, more uniform standards of player discipline. Emerging from the recent owners' meetings in New York, Commissioner Goode...
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS IN THE COMMERCIAL MEDIATION PROCESS
Volume is a great teacher. Nothing could have fully prepared me for the bench even though I tried many cases in private practice and spent a great deal of time in the courthouse. The sheer number of cases and the decisions that had to be made in a day dwarfed any type of previous experience. Much in the same way the sheer nu...
THE BUSINESS JUDGMENT RULE VS. THE PROPRIETARY LEASE – A LOOK AT KAPLAN V. PARK SOUTH TENANTS CORP.
In a decision issued this past March in the case of Kaplan v. Park South Tenants Corp., 2014 WL 1092445 (N.Y. Sup.), Justice Arthur F. Engoron issued a preliminary injunction which permitted a cooperative tenant/shareholder (plaintiff) to perform certain renovations even though the co-op board had not approved his renovation...
ADR AND WORKPLACE SEXUAL ABUSE
New York's historic preference for arbitration was recently upheld in a strongly-worded decision issued by Judge Anil Singh of the New York County Supreme Court. In Pupiales v. Building Management Company, et al., the Court issued an Order compelling arbitration under CPLR 7503 in a dispute between Plaintiff Pupiales and Def...