Tag Archives: Mediation

Ways to Prevent Nursing Home Abuse

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According to a 2013 report by ABC News, one in three nursing home patients are a victim of nursing home abuse.  Although this problem is significant, there are steps that every individual involved in this problem can take to prevent nursing home abuse.

Nursing Homes

A significant aspect of the problem is that nursing homes are often understaffed.  Additionally, nursing homes may not establish very high employment criteria, meaning that unqualified people may be working with vulnerable patients.  Nursing homes should strive to have a lower patient/caretaker ratio and insist upon continuing education of their staff.

Loved Ones

It is important that loved ones closely monitor nursing home patients to ensure that they are being treated with dignity and respect.  They should monitor the patients for warning signs of abuse, including physical marks, a withdrawn personality, missing medication or missing income or assets.  By visiting regularly – and sometimes unexpectedly – loved ones can help give caretakers a much needed break as well as keep a constant eye on the situation.  Loved ones who believe that their relative is being abused may wish to seek legal counsel and pursue arbitration of a case to quickly resolve the issue and prevent similar abuse from occurring in the future to their loved one or other patients.

Patients

Although some nursing home patients may seem frail, many are fully competent individuals who simply need some assistance in getting around.  Patients can protect themselves by reporting any abuse that they suffer.  They should inform loved ones, as well as the nursing home itself.  Additionally, they can take legal steps to help ensure that their financial matters are in order, such as by establishing a will, irrevocable trust and power of attorney.  Patients who are isolated from others are more likely to be abused, so patients should make a point of regularly seeing family and friends.

How Restrictive Covenants Affect Land Use

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In some deeds, there may be restrictive covenants that provide greater restraints on how property owners can use the property.  These may supplement or replace zoning regulations.  Although zoning regulations may call for certain restrictions, covenants of this nature may further usurp a property owner’s rights or include more stringent guidelines than those dictated by zoning regulations.  For example, a restrictive covenant may require a larger building set back line than the zoning regulation requires.  Additionally, they may limit the use of the area, such as only residential, even if zoning regulations would permit some commercial uses.

Restrictive covenants are designed to protect the existing property owners’ values of their homes as new owners move into the area.  They may state that only single family units can be constructed in the area.  They may also provide for continuity through a design scheme, such as requiring new development to be a certain amount of square footage, certain building materials to be used and certain architectural styles for the property that is bound by the restrictive covenant.  The owners association may insist upon an architectural review of plans for any new construction to ensure that the new property conforms to existing structures.

Restrictive covenants may also affect land use by prohibiting property owners from leasing the property or by placing restrictions on how property can be leased.  For example, the covenant may insist that all leases be at least one year or longer.

A restrictive covenant can be enforced by an adjacent owner or by the owners association through self-policing.  Successful enforcement of the restricted covenant can result in a court injunction that orders the owner to stop violating the covenant.  In some cases, monetary damages are also available.  Some states have passed additional legislation that provides greater damages or more rights to owners associations, such as the ability to fine the offender or restrict the owner from using community amenities.  Because the stakes are so high and affect the daily lives of the parties involved, disputes regarding restrictive covenants lend themselves to mediation.

Eminent Domain Dispute? Turn to Mediation!

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Mediation is advantageous in a variety of instances, but it can be especially effective for settling eminent domain disputes.  Eminent domain is an issue that pits private property owners against government organizations, something that can be extremely intimidating for the property owner.  By using mediation to settle the dispute, everyone can walk away happy with the outcome.

Mediation provides three major benefits when it comes to eminent domain disputes: it is confidential, it is low cost, and it allows the disputing parties to remain in control of the outcome.

When issues are settled through litigation, all of the information is public.  Often, this is enough to hamper settlement efforts in eminent domain cases.  Should an issue not be settled in mediation, the discussions cannot be used at a later date to help anyone build their case.  The mediator cannot even be asked to testify or disclose information.  This confidentiality allows everyone to speak freely and openly, making it easier to work toward a resolution.

Mediation also allows those involved to stay in control of the process and the resolution.  Nobody is forced to abide by a court-mandated procedure or resolution.  They can act in their own interest and consider flexible or unorthodox solutions if that’s what it takes to reach a successful outcome.  Disputing parties have control over every aspect of the mediation, beginning with the time and location of the mediation, and the actual mediator overseeing the process.

Finally, mediation is efficient.  The process saves everyone involved time and money, which can be especially important in eminent domain cases.  It avoids the expense and time-consuming nature of securing expert witnesses, culling through discovery, and paying an attorney and his or her staff to build a case.  Mediation also makes it easier to preserve the reputations of those involved.

Trusts and Estates Mediation and Mending Broken Relationships

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Trusts and Estates Mediation and Mending Broken Relationships

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When a family has trust and estate-related grievances, relationships suffer.  It is one of the harsh facts that trust and estate attorneys can attest to, and one of the reasons why trusts and estates mediation has become the best way to settle disputes while maintaining familial relationships in the process.  If the disagreement can be settled amicably without the bitterness and expense that usually comes with the process of litigation, it just makes sense for families to take the easier route of mediation.

As divorces, remarriages and the blended families that result from them become increasingly common in the United States, disputes related to trusts and estates have become more prevalent.  This is particularly true if the last will and testament of the deceased contains vague wording or was not changed to reflect changes in the family structure that might occur later in life after the trusts or will were created.  Neglect on the part of the deceased to consider changes that have occurred within the family structure could result in bitter family disputes that separate family members and divide the family.

However, trusts and estates mediation is a way to alleviate these disputes and settle them in a way that maintains the family unit’s cohesiveness, despite disagreement.  The nature of mediation allows for the parties in dispute to communicate openly about their grievances and work out a solution that is mutually beneficial for everyone involved.  In essence, trusts and estate mediation is a process that maintains family cohesiveness and respect because it works to resolve the matter in a respectful, rational way.

In the midst of a dispute relating to the estate of someone who is deceased, a family needs a legal process that encourages mending broken relationships rather than further severing them.  Trusts and estates mediation is exactly that process.

The Win-Win Benefit of Co-Parenting Mediation

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The Win-Win Benefit of Co-Parenting MediationCo-parenting mediation has become a hot topic in the field of alternative dispute resolution.  As one of the easiest and most effective ways to negotiate parenting arrangements following a divorce or separation, co-parenting mediation allows divorcing parents to work out custody and visitation schedules that work best for them and their children.  It’s a process that keeps the power in the hands of the parents rather than allowing a judge to determine what is best for the family.  For this reason, most couples who have gone through the process are not only glad they chose mediation—they are universally convinced that it is the best way to do it.

Research shows that the negative consequences divorce has on the emotional wellbeing of children stem from children being separated from one parent or the other for a long period of time.  When children are accustomed to spending time with both parents and become attached to both parents, serious emotional consequences can result from a significant change in that way of life for them.

The good news is that when a married couple with children decides that they no longer want to be married, the separation does not have to be extremely difficult on the children as long as they are able to spend adequate and equal amounts of time with both parents.  The toll that divorce takes on the children can be significantly minimized through co-parenting and joint parenting arrangements, particularly if the parents are able to be “adult” enough to avoid a nasty divorce that drags the children in the middle and requires them to “take sides.”

For this reason, the benefits of co-parenting mediation are for the entire family.  The parents are able to maintain control over their family and the future of their family, and the children are able to maintain a sense of stability, despite the fact that both parents might not be living in the same household.  It’s truly a win-win situation in what could otherwise be a very negative experience.

What You Should Know about Professional Malpractice Mediation

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What You Should Know about Professional Malpractice Mediation

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Mediators are useful in a myriad of situations, one of those being in the area of professional malpractice.  When someone in a professional capacity fails to perform his or her job within the ethical guidelines prescribed, lawsuits can be likely.  One way of avoiding a lawsuit and having all parties reach a place of mutual satisfaction is through the use of a mediator.

A mediator can be instrumental in solving issues in medical malpractice such as:

  • Failure to pursue a patient’s full medical history
  • Ignoring possible reactions to drug interactions
  • Prescribing “wrong” doses of medication
  • Improper administration of treatment, or treatment without consent
  • Insufficient medical records of treatment
  • Not communicating with the patient
  • Fraud

In cases of legal malpractice, the mediator can solve problems relating to:

  • Dishonesty
  • Acting outside of “Good Faith”
  • Treating the client in an unfair way
  • Improper actions taken against the client or actions undertaken without their consent
    • Breach of Attorney-Client Privilege
    • Unethical behavior
    • Fraud

There are other professional situations that can constitute a breach of contract.  Anything that is a direct violation of the ethical standards of a professional practice can create a situation in which mediation can become necessary for solving disputes.

Using a mediator keeps things confidential and outside of a court.  The mediator acts as a neutral third party and facilitates, rather than directs or controls, the process.  In creating an environment for discussion of the grievances, a mediator is able to decide in a fair and unbiased way, what the best course of restitution would be.

Many people, particularly in a professional capacity, prefer to have a mediator settle their disputes.  It keeps things between the aggrieved parties and the person or persons with whom they are having a dispute.  Mediation is also less time consuming than court, as well as being more affordable.

Internet Law Mediation: A Growing Field to Meet a Growing Need

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Internet Law Mediation: A Growing Field to Meet a Growing Need

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Internet law mediation is a relatively new construct.  As technology rapidly expands into our everyday lives and business endeavors, experts work daily to develop a legal framework within which to resolve legal disputes related to Internet law.  Considering the “newness” of Internet law, courts have encountered the problem of attempting to build this framework from scratch, as preexisting legal frameworks fall short in dealing with the rapid growth and needs of the Internet law arena.

At present, Internet law mediation focuses on legal disputes involving web site development, service provider liability, trademarks on the Internet, domain name disputes, and web page linking and legal liability. Within this scope, issues related to copyright concerns, domain name concerns, trademark concerns, defamation, and linking and framing are covered, ensuring that a business or individual has the freedom to build an online presence that is protected under many of the same copyright laws available for non-Internet published work.

Service providers are also a primary participant in the process, providing web hosting solutions and an array of online options that make it easy for businesses and individuals to build an online presence and reputation.  Like any provider, however, these companies require contracts and terms of service agreements that are violated by users and require further legal exploration under the new Internet law legal framework.  In such cases, judges often refer to the basics of contract law in relation to service providers/vendors to resolve disputes.

Trademarks and trademark liability is another hot topic in Internet law mediation, particularly as it relates to accusations of infringement.  Although the Internet is easy to monitor (after all, it is publically accessed), it is also vast, making it often difficult to determine if trademark infringement is occurring.  In cases where trademark infringement is proven, swift and effective legal action via Internet law mediation is one of the most effective means of resolving that infringement.