Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

PAGE PREVIEW

The California Supreme Court denied a petition for review in a case involving an order to mediate that was violated—and when the case settled, the parties who no-showed were left out of the settlement, which a trial court approved.

That settlement now stands. Breslin v. Breslin, 62 Cal.App.5th 801 (Jan. 26) ((available at https://bit.ly/3xI7ige), caught the attention of ADR practitioners nationwide. It was a probate dispute regarding interests in a trust with potential beneficiaries that included 24 charities.

But it was framed as mandatory mediation: The probate court ordered the parties to mediate to sort out their differences.