Arbitration & Mediation

Impatience Key to Effective Mediation

By Victoria Pynchon

(cartoon generously provided by the brilliant Charles Fincher at LawComix)

O.K., I'm MUCH TOO CLOSE to this case but nevertheless intrigued by the following comments in the Recorder's recent article, Judge Puts on the Brakes While Heller Sides Mediate.

Judge Dennis Montali has canceled the first hearing on a liquidation plan in the Heller bankruptcy, pending the outcome of mediation talks between former shareholders and creditors.

Heller's creditors and at least four groups of shareholders appeared for their first mediation conference on Friday before Judge Randall Newsome for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

J. Scott Bovitz at Bovitz & Spitzer, a mediator in the bankruptcy mediation program in the Central District of California, said Montali is essentially telling everyone to stand down and cease fire.

"The man can read the tea leaves as good as any bankruptcy judge I know," Bovitz said.

"I speculate that Judge Newsome has told Montali there is some potential common ground in this case and we need more time to sort it out," Bovitz said. "I don't anticipate a long delay, because Newsome is not a patient fellow. That makes him an excellent mediator." 

Full post as published by Settle It Now Negotiation Blog on November 05, 2009 (boomark / email).