Dispute Resolution

To some Americans, having their day in court is a constitutional right. But in these days of clogged dockets and slow justice, people in Howard County and elsewhere are looking to resolve disputes outside the courtroom.The Resolution Center in Ellicott City opened three months ago to give residents a cheaper, faster and sometimes less-painful way to deal with conflicts, says founder Thomas K. Swisher.Mediation and arbitration are growing trends throughout the state, said George B. Riggin, head of the state Administrative Office of the Courts.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will put the force of his office today behind a plan that would enable struggling homeowners to negotiate better mortgage terms before banks can take their houses. The governor is scheduled to testify before Maryland House and Senate committees on legislationthat would create a mandatory mediation process for owners at risk of losing their homes and require lenders to prove they tried to modify a borrower's loan before foreclosing. By becoming a visible advocate for the plan, O'Malley, who has recently stepped up his criticism of big banks that he calls "faceless giants," is indicating a willingness to expend political capital on behalf of the proposal and raising the stakes if it falters.

Saying a circuit judge's salary isn't high enough to pay for his children's education, Judge Hilary D. Caplan is stepping down from his post on the Baltimore City bench to return to private law practice.Judge Caplan, 59, will be "of counsel" to the firm of Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Gray beginning in September. He said he would concentrate on medical-malpractice cases and on alternative dispute resolution, an increasingly popular method of settling cases out of court.Judge Caplan, who has been on the Circuit Court bench for 11 years, said he can't afford to keep the $91,700-a-year judicial post and pay for private school and college for two children.

In a few hours in a cozy conference room on a pleasant afternoon, the worries of Jim Dore's clients were over. They had settled on monetary damages after a car accident, through an arbitrator at the Resolution Center in Ellicott City, avoiding going to court and saving a few thousand dollars. "It was a very relaxed atmosphere," said Dore, a Columbia lawyer. "And it was far more economical for them to go this route." That is the kind of experience that Thomas K. Swisher was aiming for when he opened the Resolution Center in 1990, offering litigants an alternative to the costly, stress-laden courtroom experience that can accompany legal disputes.

Eric Green, a Boston University law professor and a specialist in the field of resolving disputes out of court, has been named as the mediator in the Microsoft antitrust case. The order from Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was issued late Friday and received by parties in the case yesterday morning. Her order came after Microsoft, the Justice Department and the 18 states who have joined the suit failed to reach a settlement by the Oct. 12 deadline set by Kollar-Kotelly. Green is a recognized expert in a branch of the law known as alternative dispute resolution, or finding ways to settle legal conflicts outside the courtroom.

Investors are fed up and theyM-Fre not going to take it anymore. Now the brokerages that let them down must pay the price. A total of 4,384 arbitration cases involving disputes with brokers were filed with the National Association of Securities Dealers Dispute Resolution forum in the first half of 2004, a pace equal to last yearM-Fs all-time record. There was a 33 percent increase in the number of cases decided, compared with a year ago. In one glittery recent example, Nancy Stafford Myers, a regular on the Matlock and St. Elsewhere television dramas, was awarded $274,000 by a NASD arbitration panel.

FROM Forum, the journal of the National Institute for Dispute Resolution, by Beth Roy:"Family feuds are a vivid part of American folklore. How easy to assume we know what they are about -- hostilities among 'ignorant' hill people, handed down from generation to generation. Indeed, family feuding could be a prototype for truisms about escalation and intractability. . ."In their study of Appalachian feuds, Kathleen Blee and Dwight Billings set out to challenge the notion that feuds are irrational responses to petty disputes.

A panel led by Maryland's chief judge is recommending a far-reaching infusion of mediation and similar methods of resolving disputes into everything from courts to schools and private businesses. In a report issued this week, the Maryland Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission advises expanding mediation services, establishing community mediation in every part of the state and advocating conflict resolution studies in every school. The idea is to defuse disputes in a variety of settings before they turn violent or create a civil case.

ANARCHY in Sierra Leone is a threat to larger Africa. By taking hundreds of United Nations peacekeeping troops hostage, ragtag rebels supporting Foday Sankoh have undermined the chief tool the world community and African leaders have devised for dispute resolution on the continent. Peacekeepers come in after peace is agreed, to maintain its terms and create confidence. Mr. Sankoh agreed last July to quit insurrection and join the elected government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. He just didn't mean it. The troops sent to police the accord, mostly Zambians, were lightly trained and not expecting war. Mr. Sankoh's followers had little difficulty disarming many, stealing their vehicles and mowing down protesting civilians.

AFTER the collapse of the Soviet Union, China replaced Russia as the most important bilateral relationship in U.S. foreign policy.This is not a reward for niceness. Rather, it is recognition of China's immense population, great resources, dynamic economic growth, persistent military development, Communist power structure, territorial ambitions, thirst for oil and national pride.This relationship calls for careful dealing, patient dialogue and courteous attention from a strong base of U.S. interests and values.

Investors are fed up and theyM-Fre not going to take it anymore. Now the brokerages that let them down must pay the price. A total of 4,384 arbitration cases involving disputes with brokers were filed with the National Association of Securities Dealers Dispute Resolution forum in the first half of 2004, a pace equal to last yearM-Fs all-time record. There was a 33 percent increase in the number of cases decided, compared with a year ago. In one glittery recent example, Nancy Stafford Myers, a regular on the Matlock and St. Elsewhere television dramas, was awarded $274,000 by a NASD arbitration panel.

WHEN YOU find construction defects in your new home, is it preferable to (a) sue the builder immediately or (b) get the defects corrected with no litigation expense under a binding, statutory set of deadlines that allow you to sue if you're not satisfied? Sounds like a no-brainer. The National Association of Home Builders hopes it is. It is about to begin a nationwide push to make the latter approach the law of the land, state by state. The 205,000-member trade group is holding out a new plan adopted by the Washington state Legislature as a model for cool-headed resolution of construction-defects disputes between homebuyers and builders.

Eric Green, a Boston University law professor and a specialist in the field of resolving disputes out of court, has been named as the mediator in the Microsoft antitrust case. The order from Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly was issued late Friday and received by parties in the case yesterday morning. Her order came after Microsoft, the Justice Department and the 18 states who have joined the suit failed to reach a settlement by the Oct. 12 deadline set by Kollar-Kotelly. Green is a recognized expert in a branch of the law known as alternative dispute resolution, or finding ways to settle legal conflicts outside the courtroom.

ANARCHY in Sierra Leone is a threat to larger Africa. By taking hundreds of United Nations peacekeeping troops hostage, ragtag rebels supporting Foday Sankoh have undermined the chief tool the world community and African leaders have devised for dispute resolution on the continent. Peacekeepers come in after peace is agreed, to maintain its terms and create confidence. Mr. Sankoh agreed last July to quit insurrection and join the elected government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. He just didn't mean it. The troops sent to police the accord, mostly Zambians, were lightly trained and not expecting war. Mr. Sankoh's followers had little difficulty disarming many, stealing their vehicles and mowing down protesting civilians.

A panel led by Maryland's chief judge is recommending a far-reaching infusion of mediation and similar methods of resolving disputes into everything from courts to schools and private businesses. In a report issued this week, the Maryland Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission advises expanding mediation services, establishing community mediation in every part of the state and advocating conflict resolution studies in every school. The idea is to defuse disputes in a variety of settings before they turn violent or create a civil case.

AFTER the collapse of the Soviet Union, China replaced Russia as the most important bilateral relationship in U.S. foreign policy.This is not a reward for niceness. Rather, it is recognition of China's immense population, great resources, dynamic economic growth, persistent military development, Communist power structure, territorial ambitions, thirst for oil and national pride.This relationship calls for careful dealing, patient dialogue and courteous attention from a strong base of U.S. interests and values.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will put the force of his office today behind a plan that would enable struggling homeowners to negotiate better mortgage terms before banks can take their houses. The governor is scheduled to testify before Maryland House and Senate committees on legislationthat would create a mandatory mediation process for owners at risk of losing their homes and require lenders to prove they tried to modify a borrower's loan before foreclosing. By becoming a visible advocate for the plan, O'Malley, who has recently stepped up his criticism of big banks that he calls "faceless giants," is indicating a willingness to expend political capital on behalf of the proposal and raising the stakes if it falters.

To some Americans, having their day in court is a constitutional right. But in these days of clogged dockets and slow justice, people in Howard County and elsewhere are looking to resolve disputes outside the courtroom.The Resolution Center in Ellicott City opened three months ago to give residents a cheaper, faster and sometimes less-painful way to deal with conflicts, says its founder, attorney Thomas K. Swisher.Mediation and arbitration are growing trends throughout the state, said George B. Riggin, head of the state Administrative Office of the Courts.

To some Americans, having their day in court is a constitutional right. But in these days of clogged dockets and slow justice, people in Howard County and elsewhere are looking to resolve disputes outside the courtroom.The Resolution Center in Ellicott City opened three months ago to give residents a cheaper, faster and sometimes less-painful way to deal with conflicts, says its founder, attorney Thomas K. Swisher.Mediation and arbitration are growing trends throughout the state, said George B. Riggin, head of the state Administrative Office of the Courts.

To some Americans, having their day in court is a constitutional right. But in these days of clogged dockets and slow justice, people in Howard County and elsewhere are looking to resolve disputes outside the courtroom.The Resolution Center in Ellicott City opened three months ago to give residents a cheaper, faster and sometimes less-painful way to deal with conflicts, says founder Thomas K. Swisher.Mediation and arbitration are growing trends throughout the state, said George B. Riggin, head of the state Administrative Office of the Courts.