Don’t let a jury decide your family’s fate.

Most experienced trial lawyers will admit that they have lost cases which they felt they should have won, and occasionally won a case which they were certain they were going to lose.

The bottom line is that no one can predict (with any degree of certainty) how a given jury will decide a particular case (or what fact(s) were pivotal in their decision-making process).

Having a jury of 6 or 12 strangers make life-altering decisions regarding the medical or financial well-being of you or a loved one is incredibly stressful. Did they really understand the evidence? Did they make up their minds before hearing your side of the case? These and other questions can plague the unsuccessful litigant for years.

Mediation is popular because it works.

Mediation is a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution which lets YOU be the decision-maker. Rather than a jury of strangers, YOU decide if your case should settle and on what terms. 

Another chief benefit of mediation is the opportunity to avoid the significant expense of a full-blown jury trial.  It is often said that the only true “winners” in contested litigation are the attorneys, because they are generally entitled to get paid--win, lose or draw. The cost and expense of pre-trial and trial preparation can be enormous — before the cost of the trial even begins — especially when you consider that there is no guarantee of winning at trial. It makes no sense to decimate the trust, probate or guardianship estate without making a sincere, good faith effort to reach a compromise and settlement through mediation.

Because it works, most courts require a good faith effort at mediation before the case will be permitted to proceed to trial. At mediation, one of the keys to success is a knowledgeable, experienced and hard-working mediator. Not every mediator is right for every case.

GUARDIANSHIP

Guardianship of an adult requires a finding that the proposed ward is mentally incapacitated such that they are no longer able to operate safely, independently and autonomously in society. Guardianship disputes take many forms, including whether the proposed ward remains mentally capable of making their own decisions, who among competing candidates is best qualified to serve as guardian, whether guardianship can be avoided altogether due to the existence of less restrictive alternatives (such as valid powers of attorney) or available supports and services, what rights the ward should retain, etc.

Unlike litigation, which is inherently uncertain and costly (both financially and emotionally), mediation provides an opportunity for the parties to craft customized, flexible solutions to emotionally charged issues such as family visitation, residential placement, etc., while preserving the proposed ward’s estate from the ravages of a full-blown jury trial with possible appeals.

TRUSTS

Trust litigation can take many forms. Among the most common are Trustee Disputes. These typically involve allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, self-dealing, enforcement of distribution terms, material violations of the terms of a trust, trustee incapacity, or trustee mismanagement. These claims may allow for the recovery of damages from the trustee as well as their removal. Often, the trustee is afforded some protection, including the right to use trust funds for his defense.

Another common form of trust litigation is trust creation disputes. To be a valid trust the settlor must have intended to create a trust; the settlor must also have had sufficient mental capacity to create a trust and be free of undue influence. This may create an opportunity to oppose the validity of a trust.

PROBATE

Probate cases are not unlike divorce cases in that protracted litigation leads to the consumption of finite resources (the decedent’s estate), making probate contests ideally suited for mediation. Like divorce cases, however, probate contests are among the toughest cases to mediate because of family dysfunction, years of bitterness or resentment, and unresolved emotional issues related to the decedent’s death. 

Like trust litigation, probate litigation can take many forms, including will contests, allegations of lack of testamentary capacity or undue influence, financial exploitation or abuse of powers of attorney, survivorship accounts, etc. Since mental capacity and vulnerability to undue coercion are often central components of probate disputes, selecting a mediator with a firm knowledge of cognitive and behavioral psychology is of great benefit.

PERSONAL INJURY

As a board certified personal injury trial lawyer with over 30 years of experience, Russ has personally handled virtually every type of personal injury and wrongful death case. From complex medical malpractice, mass tort, and product liability cases to motor vehicle accidents and premises liability cases, Russ is the mediator for you. He understands the needs and desires of both the injured party and the insurance company, and works tirelessly to find a solution that both sides can accept and thereby avoid the costs and uncertainty of trial.