Mediation Proves Its Case at Superior Court

When his neighborly conflicts were solved in one afternoon, Charles McGregor knew he had spent two years too long and too much money fighting for 7 feet of property next to his Lakeside home.

McGregor said his neighbor’s property line was too close to his house, and he felt he had legal rights to what his neighbor claimed was hers. McGregor wanted to buy, but his neighbor just wasn’t selling. He sued her for the land because she threatened to build a fence around it.

“I couldn’t talk to the lady, she was just nasty,” McGregor said. “I offered her money, and she wouldn’t take it. Then she came out with some ridiculous amount of money, and we objected to that.”

After waiting two years for a court date and spending money in the meantime, the case was referred to Community Mediation of San Diego, where the two parties were able to reach an agreement in a matter of hours.

“We’ll appraise the property and find out how much it is actually worth, and I will pay her the money,” McGregor said.

“I can honestly say that I am very pleased that it’s over with, and I know if we could have mediated earlier it would have cost her less money and me less money,” McGregor said. “It took the mediation to put it together and get a good conclusion on both sides.”

Mediation, accomplished with the assistance of trained volunteer mediators, allows disputing parties to resolve their differences in an informal, neutral setting, without the typical courtroom scenario.

The majority of Superior Court cases in mediation involve more than money. They bring with them anger, frustration and hurt feelings. Because emotions run high in most of the cases, mediators say much of the time people just want to be heard.

Community Mediation has had considerable success in its first year in San Diego Superior Court. The program has blossomed since it began in 1983, when it was centered on cases at the Vista Superior Court and the Small Claims Court in Kearny Mesa.

In its first month of mediation at the San Diego Superior Court, the center mediated only three cases. Last month, the center mediated 20 cases, which has become the monthly average, said Lee Russell, court coordinator for the center.

The program is well-respected throughout the community and has even made a name for itself statewide. Ann Becker, director of the Sacramento Mediation Center, said San Diego’s program is one of the best in California. The Sacramento Mediation Center has modeled itself after San Diego’s program, she said.

The program is not only popular with other mediation groups, but is well-liked among San Diego Superior Court judges.

If it saves him a lengthy, emotionally charged trial, Superior Court Judge Robert O’Neill thinks mediation is worth it.

“Mediation is a dynamic process,” O’Neill said. “You take people at war and watch them walk out of the room arm in arm. If I can take the anger out of a lawsuit, that’s a big gain. If it’s solved through mediation, that’s even better.”

O’Neill said he has seen disputes mediated where a father and son were actually punching each other in the courtroom.

O’Neill, former chairman of the program, said he has referred about 25 of his cases to Community Mediation, thinking many of them would never be resolved because of their complexity and emotional element. But, he said, most of them were solved--without lawyers, high cost to the parties involved or high costs to county taxpayers.

Other Superior Court judges are taking a bit longer to get used to the mediation process. For instance, Judge Mack Lovett wasn’t really sure about mediation until two of his more complex cases were resolved recently through the process.

Lovett wrote a letter to Community Mediation to express his gratitude for the success the program brought to those cases.

“One case was a business dispute, and I thought the mediators wouldn’t have the expertise to solve it, but they must have it,” Lovett said.

He said emotional cases are perfect for mediation, as are cases that don’t involve huge sums of money. These are the cases where it isn’t worthwhile financially for a litigant to hire a lawyer, he said, such as cases involving disputes between family members.

Superior Court Judge Arthur Jones said mediation is “successful, efficient and effective,” adding that the process positively affects the court system because it helps relieve case backlog.

But he wishes attorneys would look to mediation more often, because some cases stay in court for more than a year, and then, right before the trial, a judge refers it to mediation.

La Jolla lawyer Tom Henry said some attorneys do not welcome the mediation process with open arms.

“There are certain lawyers who wouldn’t accept the mediation process,” Henry said. “It is hard for some lawyers to let others step in. It is difficult for them from an ego standpoint. The lawyer has to be prepared to step down for a moment in mediation.”

One of Henry’s clients found success through the mediation program. That case concerned valuable property rights, where an emotional battle was fought over a shared driveway in La Jolla.

“Neighborhood battles can become very emotional,” Henry said. “People take positions, and pride gets in the way, and they won’t back down. These kind of cases lend themselves to mediation.”

“I hadn’t really heard of mediation programs,” he said. “We were in the chambers preparing for a trial and the judge looked at the case and thought it would be appropriate for mediation. So we set up an appointment and it went from there.”

Anthony Battaglia, a vice president of the San Diego County Bar Assn., said mediation lessens the burden of everyone involved in the court system. The organization is a sponsor of the program.

“Mediation, arbitration and alternate dispute resolution are an important part of the legal community,” Battaglia said. “We’ve all experienced court congestion. (Mediation is) necessary to keep the courts moving forward.”

Of the Superior Court cases judges refer to mediation, which is a confidential process, 70% are resolved, said Robin Duboe Seigle, spokeswoman and mediator for the program. About 85% of the parties involved in those successful cases comply with their mediation agreements.

The program is paid for by a portion of the Municipal and Superior Court filing fees. The program adjusts its fees on a sliding scale and, in many instances, there is no charge to the parties involved.

The volunteer mediators, who aren’t required to have law degrees, undergo continuous training and observe other mediations in progress before they do mediation on their own. Mediations usually take place with two of the volunteers present.

“The parties really get into it and tell us how they feel,” said mediator Joe Mansolillo. “You really can’t do that in court.”

Mansolillo said he has mediated the most complex of cases, often involving divorce.

Mediator Mary Pennell, who has a law degree, said there is always some level of anger in a lawsuit. Discomfort among parties and animosity is typical, she said. Cases will not be resolved unless the hard feelings are abolished.

“You have to find out what’s behind the anger, and probe what is important about the issue,” Pennell said. “You can’t back off when it gets tense, and you have to be insistent. I like mediation because it allows individuals to take control of their lives and make choices that make sense for themselves.”