Settlements in Katrina Mediations Withstand Attack (8/27/08)
Keith Seat

A federal court upheld the “plain meaning” of settlements reached in the Mississippi hurricane mediation program which released any and all Katrina claims except for subsequent discovery of “additional insured damage.” The Scruggs Katrina Group filed some 200 nearly identical complaints alleging a conspiracy of fraud and bad faith that it asserted as grounds for additional insured damages. The court, however, found that the phrase could only mean additional property damage, but left open the record in case plaintiff’s new substitute counsel wished to submit affidavits showing newly discovered property damage.

Boyd v. State Farm, No. 1:07CV820 (S.D. Miss., Aug. 6, 2008)

The World is Looking to Obama — and America (7/16/08)
Anna Spain
Despite all the media coverage of the national election campaign, most Americans probably don't realize how captivated foreigners are by Barack Obama, let alone understand why.

Iowa Reactivates Flood Claim Mediation Program (7/16/08)
Keith Seat

Iowa’s Insurance Commissioner met with insurers to reactivate a flood claim mediation service in response to extensive flooding since May that resulted in 42 counties being declared disaster areas. While full details on implementation will be available soon, the Iowa Insurance Division plans to provide mediators under contract for consumers and insurers with settlement disputes. The Iowa flood mediation service was first begun after mammoth floods in 1993. State officials believe the damage from the current flood is even greater, calling it a 500-year event.

NU Online News Service (June 20, 2008) (Subscription Required)

Alaska State Senator Proposes Mediation over Pipeline (7/16/08)
Keith Seat

In an effort to avoid a difficult decision over an exclusive license and $500 million incentive for a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Alberta, an Alaska state senator has proposed mediation among interested parties in order to provide a pause and an opportunity for creative alternatives to emerge. The senator stated she would ask senate and house leaders to hire a professional mediator. The state revenue commissioner and others oppose mediation and seek an up or down vote on the license.

Anchorage Daily News (June 19, 2008)

Comparing Collaborative and Traditional Conflict Management in Environmental Issues (7/14/08)
Christina Simokat
Collaborative processes have been called the new “dominant paradigm” (Gillingham, 2001; Lubell, 2004) in watershed management, and government agencies such as the EPA are encouraging and looking to expand this style of natural resource management. This paper reviews the literature on this topic, and the findings indicate ambiguity about the definition of a collaborative process and its benefits, and a need for more empirical research on the processes for watershed management and the effects, short and long term, on communities.

The Dirty, Risky Business of Negotiation: Ideology and the Risk of Appeasement (6/10/08)
Robert Benjamin
Fighting has the edge over negotiation as the first inclination of most people when faced with conflict. Our human brain chemistry lubricates the preference for warfare and the use of force, while negotiation, by contrast, requires a willed, determined and conscious effort.

Guanajuato a la vanguardia en medios alternativos de resolución de conflictos (6/08/08)
Juan Carlos González Garcia
San Miguel de Allende, uno de los destinos turísticos más visitado en México, cuenta ya con un centro de mediación, adscrito a Poder Judicial de Guanajuato

Victoria, Australia Expanding Court-Connected Mediation (6/06/08)
Keith Seat

Australian Supreme and County Courts will be able to send cases to mediation for the first time in a pilot project being started in Victoria, which will include large commercial disputes. Based on a Canadian model, senior judges will be involved to give the mediation process their imprimatur. The project is allocated A$3.7 million in the current budget package for the judicial system. In addition, the budget includes a A$5.8 million expansion of the mediation program in Magistrate Court and A$6.2 million to expand alternative dispute resolution regionally in Victoria.

The Age (May 4, 2008)

Appeasement and Diplomacy: When There is a Tempest in a Teapot, Keep Your Eye on the Teapot! (5/27/08)
Peter Adler
George Bush recently visited Israel on the occasion of its 60th birthday and, in a speech to the Knesset, put forward thinly veiled criticisms of Barack Obama suggesting that his willingness to negotiate with Iran and Syria is the “false comfort of appeasement.” Out on the campaign trail, John McCain chimed right in. “The President is exactly right.” Various Democrats instantly fired back. Joe Bidden called the president’s comments “bullshit.” Hillary Clinton (rising to Obama’s defense) said Bush and McCain failed to understand the distinction between appeasement and diplomacy. Well, what is the difference between appeasement and diplomacy?

Peace And The Environment: The Effect Of Linkages In Policy And Development Projects (5/26/08)
Christina Simokat
Through the 1990s, with the ending of the Cold War, there has been increasing research into methods of peace-building and reconciliation in areas of conflict. One of these methods is to use environmental issues as a forum for peace between warring parties.

Mediación: un aporte a la transformación de las relaciones sociales (5/08/08)
Alejandro M. Nató, Liliana María Carbajal, María Gabriela Rodríguez Querejazu
Esta nota enuncia algunas de las ideas desarrolladas en el libro: Mediación Comunitaria. Conflictos en el escenario social urbano (México, Universidad de Sonora-Centro Internacional de Estudios Sobre Democracia y Paz Social, 2005); Alejandro Nató, María Gabriela Rodríguez Querejazu y Liliana Carbajal.

Resignations Undercut Florida’s Open Government Mediation Program (5/07/08)
Keith Seat

Florida’s Open Government Mediation Program began in the early 1990s with the Attorney General’s office acting as an intermediary to assist requesters in getting access to documents or meetings of government agencies, rather than agencies spending substantial resources fighting public access. The process was so successful that it was enacted by the state in 1996 and grew to over 120 cases per year. However, Florida’s current Attorney General has not made the program a priority and top-level turnover has resulted in a one-third reduction in the cases being handled, raising concern among media groups. However, Attorney General McCollum stated that the mediation process has been very successful and will continue.

Orlando Sentinel (March 16, 2008)

Minnesota Adds Mediation to Fight Against Home Foreclosures (5/07/08)
Keith Seat

The governor of Minnesota is encouraging voluntary mediation in response to high levels of home foreclosures and as a further step after foreclosure counseling programs. Under the program, Minnesota agencies are to offer grants to pay for mediation if counseling has not resolved the issues, but a home-saving deal may still be possible.

Post-Bulletin (April 16, 2008)

Lawsuit Filed to Spur More Insurance Mediation (4/23/08)
Keith Seat

Litigation has been filed claiming that property insurers deliberately failed to inform Florida policyholders that they can seek mediation for hurricane claims, allegedly saving the insurance industry $400 million in mediation and extra claims settlement costs. The case was brought on behalf of a homeowner against the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and the Department of Financial Services, alleging that the agencies allowed insurers to ignore their obligations to offer mediation. While class action certification is not being sought, plaintiff’s counsel hopes the state agencies will become more diligent in enforcing the mediation notification requirement. The agencies dispute the claims, stating that they do focus on getting homeowners with insurance disputes into mediation.

Orlando Sentinel (April 3, 2008)

Review of Eye of the Storm Leadership by Peter Adler (4/21/08)
John Sautelle
If you want a thought-provoking, engaging and at times inspirational read then this is the book for you! As it turns out, this book is not about leadership generally – it focuses specifically on leadership in the context of conflict.

La proteccion de la confidencialidad en la mediacion (4/15/08)
Walter A. Wright
La importancia de la confidencialidad en la mediación no puede ser subestimada. En la mediación, el mediador cuenta con la confidencialidad como una herramienta esencial. En la introducción, el mediador asegura a los participantes la confidencialidad del proceso para crear una "zona de tranquilidad" y ayudar a la expresión franca de sentimientos e intereses. Más tarde en el proceso, el mediador alienta a los participantes a generar ideas y opciones para la solución del conflicto.

Eye of the Storm Leadership - Chapter One (4/01/08)
Peter Adler
Peter Adler is pleased to here provide Chapter One of his new book "Eye of the Storm Leadership." This chapter is entitled: Guerilla Bridge Building and includes free access to the accompanying video.

La mediación para una comunidad participativa (3/31/08)
Juan Carlos Vezzulla
Los años dedicados a la práctica de la mediación en diversos contextos y, fundamentalmente, las exigencias enfrentadas en la formación de mediadores en diferentes países (nada mejor que enseñar para aprender) me llevaron a reconocer la necesidad de construir un marco teórico referencial que sustentase la mediación, su filosofía y práctica, y que marcase principios básicos que permitiesen diferenciarla de la conciliación y de todo un abanico de prácticas extendidas por el mundo bajo el nombre de mediación sin respeto a su base científica, filosófica, ética y profesional. 

Ten Questions on Leadership for Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama (3/24/08)
Peter Adler
The U.S. presidential run-up is a time to think about politics, conflict and leadership. The collective challenges we face -- balancing freedom and security, maintaining economic and environmental sustainability, educating our young people, and assuring the health of those who cannot take care of themselves -- crisscross all sorts of historic borders, jurisdictions, and purviews. Making headway on these challenges will necessarily be a team sport.

How will Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama approach them? Imagine for a moment that we could engage all three candidates in an extended dialogue that goes beyond the sound bites and platform promises we have grown too accustomed to. Here is what I would ask:

Barack Obama’s Speech on Race (3/19/08)
Barack Obama
We find Barack Obama's speech on race to be a top flight example of the kind of mature consideration our most divisive issues deserve and need. We here present the text of Senator Barack Obama’s speech on race in Philadelphia.

Two-Thirds of U.S. Bankruptcy Courts Now Use Mediation (3/18/08)
Keith Seat

A full two-thirds of federal bankruptcy courts now have mediation programs in place and encourage use by the parties. The details of the court mediation programs differ, but most depend on voluntary participation by parties, even though the courts generally have authority to mandate mediation if necessary. Some bankruptcy courts have been offering mediation since the 1980s and the number of courts with programs continues to increase. The level of success has generally been high, with mediation of over 3,700 matters from one court since the program began in 1995, for example, and a settlement rate of 64 percent.

CommunityDispatch.com (February 28, 2008)

Federal Circuit Mediation Program Impresses (3/18/08)
Keith Seat

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was the last federal appellate court to begin a mediation program, but in just two years is showing results in line with other circuit programs, despite the complexity of its specialized docket, which includes patent appeals. Last year the Federal Circuit’s mediation program resolved 42% of the cases mediated.

The National Law Journal (February 11, 2008) (Subscription Required)

Introduction to Eye of the Storm Leadership (3/17/08)
Peter Adler
In the vast galaxy of leadership practices, the 150 ideas that follow focus on making deals, brokering agreements, and managing the inevitable conflicts that occur in politically charged circumstances. They are about communication, negotiation, problem solving, and “guerilla peace making.” The premise is simple and was best stated by philosopher, psychologist, and educator John Dewey: “Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheep-like passivity and sets us at noting and contriving."

The Guerrilla vs. The Humanist Negotiator (3/09/08)
Robert Benjamin
This provocative article discusses and contrasts a hard-edged approach to negotiation with the recalcitrant Iranian administration that is in stark contrast to the more prevalent view of negotiation as a humanistic and rational enterprise. This goes to the heart of how negotiation and mediation are practiced, not just on a geopolitical level, but in all dispute contexts.

Primer decenio de la conciliacion extrajudicial en el Peru, problemas y propuestas de cambio (2/26/08)
Rafael Gonzalo Medina Rospigliosi
La conciliación extrajudicial es un medio de solución de conflictos, por el cual un tercero neutral e imparcial denominado Conciliador Extrajudicial asiste a las partes a encontrar su propia solución a sus conflictos que es mas humana, saludable, justa, durable, mutuamente satisfactoria y con el mismo valor de sentencia inapelable, es una poderosa herramienta de tercera generación para solucionar conflictos.