Try Mediation with a Neutral Expert

There’s a trend in the legal community toward collaborative law. This is most often seen in a family law setting, where two attorneys representing husband and wife try to work together to resolve the thorny issues of diving up property and arranging child custody and support.   Often, with the consent and input of both parties, a neutral financial or other professional will be brought in to assess the situation. This is different from what we think of as a normal lawsuit, where dueling attorneys hire experts to argue their side in court or even in mediation.

The two sides go in, and often come, out of the experience as bitter adversaries, both sure they have been treated unfairly. 

Collaborative law attempts to break this cycle of recrimination, mistrust and acrimony, by taking the clients through a process whereby they work together to solve the most pressing issues facing them, with the help of the neutral expert, weighing the benefits of all options.  When this approach works, it can save money, time and the emotional well-being for all concerned.

Applying this approach to Mediation:

In circumstances where two neighbors are at an impasse over one of the neighbor’s trees, boundary lines, easements or similar issues,  a similar approach can be used in mediating the dispute.  The two parties would agree to mediate the case with an attorney or community mediator and the use of a neutral evaluator of the case, for instance, a licensed property surveyor or consulting arborist trained in evaluating the health or hazard potential of trees.  Rather than each party hiring an attorney and their own experts, they agree to submit to an experienced expert’s advice in their particular situation.

As with any mediation, everything said is confidential and the parties are free to hire attorneys and go to court, if they cannot resolve their differences.  They will, however, have a much clearer idea of what the outcome is likely to be after having gone through mediation with a neutral professional evaluating the matter from a detached, scientific point of view.

Here is what one lawyer said about the use of neutral experts in mediation:

The expert is jointly hired by both sides and the cost is shared equally by both sides. The expert’s role is to openly provide independent, neutral expert information and analysis to both side and more so, to the process as a whole. The non-aligned expert becomes a mutual asset and a resource for all parties in developing options for settlement.

                                                                                                                                      

Shared costs. Shared usage. Heightened value. The joint use of a neutral, independent expert is a beautiful thing: The client pays less money and gets more value. And the experts find it liberating and freeing, allowing them to do their best work. (Michael Zeytoonian, http://www.disputeresolutioncounsel.com/2009/06/using-neutral-experts-in-mediation/#more-81)

Getting your neighbor to agree to mediation:

Consider taking your neighbor dispute to mediation and share the cost of having an attorney-mediator and neutral expert serve you, and help resolve your issues and keep peace in the block. You will need to initiate contact with the neighbor and try to overcome whatever hostility may have already developed that has brought you to an impasse. 

You need to explain that you would rather not have to engage the services of a lawyer and hire an expert to represent your views, but that  if you can’t resolve the differences, you may be forced to do so.  If you end up in court, the judge is most likely to send you to mediation anyway.  In the meantime, both parties will have spent hundreds, possibly thousands just to be back at square one. 

Then offer mediation with a skilled, experienced neutral expert who can evaluate the problem and recommend a mutually beneficial course of action or at least let both sides understand their options and likelihood of prevailing at trial should it go that far.  The two of you can jointly choose the neutral you feel most comfortable with. Lists can often be found at your local bar association or you can look online, use the yellow pages or ask for referrals from others.

Try mediation first. You have nothing to lose and you may find that you can settle your differences and maintain a neighborly relationship in the bargain.

Why Tree Dispute Mediation might be Right for You and Your Trees!

Many of you know I have added to my law practice a Tree Dispute Mediation service with my husband, Ray Moritz, an expert consulting arborist/urban forester. Ray has participated in hundreds of mediations around trees, views, hazard issues, wildland fire and the like.  I have training in transactional analysis (it helps, let me tell you), and mediation in standard and environmental settings.  Together we can help save people time, costs and headaches by using mediation with a neutral scientific expert with no bias toward either side.  Resolve your issues by learning what's best for the environment and your relationship with the neighbors.  Here
s an article on the subject.

Pass it on:

The problem:

Two neighbors are at an impasse over one of the neighbors trees that the other neighbor finds unsightly, scary and messy.  The first neighbor, call him Neighbor A, refuses to hear anything the other neighbor, Neighbor B, says about his trees. He planted them twenty years ago for privacy and shade and they are doing the job.  If they drop limbs on Neighbor B’s property, he can just pick them up and consider it free firewood. 

And no, he will not consider cutting down these trees and planting something shorter, cleaner and neater, even if Neighbor B offers to pay half. 

What to do?  If Neighbor B truly feels Neighbor A’s trees are a hazard (the limbs they drop are huge and he fears for the well being of his dog, his kids, his wife and himself) or even just a nuisance (he’s tired of picking up debris and having half his yard in shade), he may well hire an attorney and write Neighbor A a threatening letter. If Neighbor A ignores it, the two may find themselves in court, with costly attorneys and experts and staring at a long, grueling legal battle that will ensure there is never any good will between these two neighbors again. One may even end up moving away just to avoid the “despot” next door.

Fears and accusations of harassment, name calling, hang up phone calls, even tree damage or poisoning may well ensue.

The solution:

How to avoid all this?

Try mediation first, before you resort to legal action.  But not just any mediation.  Because even in mediation, positions can harden and experts can argue, until an impasse forces the parties into court anyway.

Try Tree Dispute Resolution with an experienced neutral tree expert, who works side by side with a neutral attorney mediator. 

Litigation is costly, especially if each side is forced to hire attorneys and experts, pay court fees, attend endless depositions and fill out countless paperwork.  Try mediation instead. We work with you to solve the thorny problems that come between neighbors, their trees and their views.  We help you deal with hazard trees and nuisances.  What is unique to our service is a trained neutral consulting arborist provides expert assistance in finding the right solution for your situation.  Our goal is to keep trees and relationships healthy and thriving.  

Here is what one lawyer said about the use of neutral experts in mediation:

The expert is jointly hired by both sides and the cost is shared equally by both sides. The expert’s role is to openly provide independent, neutral expert information and analysis to both side and more so, to the process as a whole. The non-aligned expert becomes a mutual asset and a resource for all parties in developing options for settlement.

                                                                                                                                     

Shared costs. Shared usage. Heightened value. The joint use of a neutral, independent expert is a beautiful thing: The client pays less money and gets more value. And the experts find it liberating and freeing, allowing them to do their best work. (Michael Zeytoonian, http://www.disputeresolutioncounsel.com/2009/06/using-neutral-experts-in-mediation/#more-81)

Take your tree dispute to mediation instead of court.  Use trained, experienced neutrals, including a consulting arborist/urban forester with more than twenty five years experience helping people with the same issues facing you now.  Share the cost of having an attorney-mediator and neutral expert serve you, and help solve those thorny problems.

Save time, save money, save your relationship with the neighbors.

Try mediation first.