Prior to the current coronavirus pandemic and resulting shelter in place orders, in many counties, there was already serious backlogs. What that means is that trial dates were hard to come by and even motions were scheduled to be heard months after they were filed. While the courts are not currently closed, they aren’t exactly
The Inability or Refusal to Settle By the Lawyer, Not the Litigant
In one of the earliest posts I did on this blog going back ten years or more, I posited that you can only really settle when the time is right and when both parties are ready. In fact, I felt then as I feel now, that you can make your best offer, if not an
Appealing Arbitration Awards: You Get What You Bargain For
When can a litigant appeal an arbitration award? In the recent decision of K.V.H. v. W.S.H., the New Jersey Appellate Division clarified the procedures by which a party, dissatisfied by the decisions rendered by an arbitrator, can challenge those awards.
In this matter, the defendant appealed from certain provisions of a series of
Know Your Mediator
There is an old adage in litigation “know your judge.” Essentially what that means is that you should find out as much as you can about the judge you are appearing in front of both so you can try to understand what the outcome might be but more importantly, so that you can may a
I Can Appeal My Arbitration Award, Right? (Redux)
In 2015, I wrote a post on this blog with the same title because seemingly, this issue has been resolved for some time. All too often, parties would agree to mediate their disputes but would try to reserve a right to appeal, as of right, to the Appellate Division, as if the matter was tried
This Agreement to Arbitrate Will Self-Destruct in 3…2…1…
Arbitration – essentially, a private trial in which the parties hire a fact-finder who serves in lieu of a judge – has become an increasingly common means of resolving family law disputes. Although an arbitration may be conducted with all the formalities of a trial, usually parties can agree to dispense with certain formalities, some
The Arbitration “Rules of Engagement”
The recent Appellate Division case of Sirigotis v. Sirigotis, although unpublished (non- precedential), provides a great reminder of how important it is to know the “rules of engagement”.
In Sirigotis, the parties were able to resolve a majority of their issues by consent but agreed to submit the remaining unresolved issues to “final and binding”
Don’t Let Your Arbitration Agreement Bite You
You hear people talk all the time these days that mediation and arbitration, or quite frankly, any alternate dispute resolution (ADR) methods are the best things since sliced bread. They may very well be in the right case – which these days may be most of them given judicial backlogs, and other factors making presenting
The New Jersey Supreme Court Enacts Rule 5:1-5, codifying Arbitration Procedures for Divorce Matters.
Resolving issues pertaining to a divorce matter are not only costly and challenging, but if parties’ choose to litigate their issues before a sitting Family Part Judge, their dirty laundry becomes public record.
In order to resolve divorce litigation in a more private setting, parties have the choice of attending mediation and/or arbitration as alternative
I CAN APPEAL MY ARBITRATION AWARD, RIGHT?
As we have all seen and heard, alternate dispute resolution (ADR) is all the rage. Two common methods of ADR are mediation and arbitration. To describe the two as simply as possible, in mediation, the parties and their attorneys (and perhaps even their experts), meet with a neutral third party to help them to come