Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog

Legislating ‘Bad Faith’ in Mediation

By Holly Hayes - September 4, 2009

By Holly Hayes Steve Mehta wrote a thoughtful and thought-provoking post on bad faith mediation on his blog Mediation Matters. Mr. Mehta references HB 2256, a Texas law that addresses three things as bad faith: failure to participate, failure to have a full authority representative present, and failing to provide necessary information. It authorizes the mediator to report this conduct. Mr. Mehta notes, “Interestingly, I do not think a statu

GUEST-POST: Bad Faith Mandatory Mediation by Software Developer

By Victoria VanBuren - August 28, 2009

By Peter S. Vogel The mandatory mediation provision of the software development agreement seemed like a good idea to me since a mediation conference was required before litigation could be filed. However, it turned out to be a ploy. The California software vendor had a contract for software development for the implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Program (ERP) system for a large company in Mississippi. Unfortunately as things turn out abou

GUEST-POST: Creative Mediation for IT Dispute

By Victoria VanBuren - August 12, 2009

By Peter S. Vogel After receiving a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) the Judge ordered a mediation conference between the plaintiff software licensor and their customer in Alabama. The software in dispute was a specialized tax website that the plaintiff had spent many years developing, and after defendant abruptly terminated the license the plaintiff was shocked that the defendant had a competing website providing specialized tax s

Texas House Bill 2256 and Bad Faith Mediation in ‘Balance Billing’

By Holly Hayes - August 5, 2009

By Holly Hayes As discussed in my previous post, Texas House Bill 2256 was signed into law on June 19, 2009. The bill provides a procedure for mediation of “balance billing,” which is the practice of billing insured patients for amounts or balances not covered by the insurer. HB 2256 also includes the following section on “bad faith” mediation: SUBCHAPTER C. BAD FAITH MEDIATION Sec. 1467.101. BAD FAITH. (a) The following conduct

GUEST-POST: The Psychology of Overconfidence and Mediation

By Victoria VanBuren - July 23, 2009

By Don Philbin In this week’s The New Yorker, one of my favorite writers explores how “optimistic overconfidence” contributed to the quick downfall of the mighty Bear Stearns. Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, The Tipping Point, and Outliers, chronicles the meteoric rise of Jimmy Cayne, copier salesman turned professional bridge player turned investment banker, to the top of Bear Stearns. A student of history, Gladwell uses the British-led invas

Texas HB 2256 Makes Possible a New Mediation Procedure for ‘Balance Billing’

By Holly Hayes - June 29, 2009

By Holly Hayes Texas House Bill 2256 was signed into law on June 19, 2009 and is effective immediately. The bill provides a procedure for mediation of out-of-network health benefit claim disputes. The law now gives patients the option to mediate when they are “balance-billed” by their insurance company for services provided by out-of-network facility-based physicians like radiologists, pathologists, and neonatologists. Balance billing

Texas Legislature Update

By Victoria VanBuren - May 27, 2009

[update: H.B. 2139 passed the House and Senate (with amendments); the amended version was under consideration by the conference committee when the session ended. See here. ] Today, two bills related to ADR were passed by the 81st Texas Legislature: H.B. 1083. The bill, authored by Rep. Gary Elkins, states that “Except as provided by agreement of the parties, a court may not order mediation in an action that is subject to the Federal Arbitra

Mediation in Healthcare

By Holly Hayes - May 25, 2009

By Holly Hayes While the use of mediation for conflict resolution is gaining strength in a number of industries, a recent accreditation standard (LD.01.03.01) issued by The Joint Commission is expected to prompt hospitals to explore an expanded use of mediation to manage conflict in the healthcare setting. The new Leadership Standard: Conflict Management Standard LD.01.03.01 became effective January 2009. The overall standard states, “The governi

The Mediation Process: A Case Study

By Victoria VanBuren - May 15, 2009

If you’d like to know how disputes are successfully resolved by mediation, Peter A. Scarpato had an interesting guest-post at the Loree Reinsurance and Arbitration Law Forum yesterday about how mediation works. The piece provides an invaluable insight into the mediation process by walking the reader through an actual mediation case. Good stuff. Check out the post here: Guest Post – Mediating Reinsurance Disputes: A Case Study. Technor

Texas Bill: Victim-Offender Mediation Program

By Victoria VanBuren - March 30, 2009

A recent bill related to ADR has been filed by the 81st Texas Legislature. H.B. 2139, authored by Rep. McClendon, would establish a victim-offender pretrial mediation program for first time offenders. Status: Left pending in committee on 03/19/2009. Technorati Tags: arbitration, ADR, law, Mediation,