The Mediation Centre

 A civil rights case over a raid on a Florida barbershop has settled for $125,000, leaving unresolved a federal appeals question about whether law enforcement officers can be liable for constitutional violations committed by other officers.

A partnership between Ku’ikahi Mediation Center and West Hawai’i Mediation Center with support from the Third Circuit Court, has helped 172 homeowners avoid foreclosure through the Hawai’i Island Foreclosure Mediation Program. The program allows lenders and borrowers to use mediation services while in judicial foreclosure. In addition, homeowners who are in pre-foreclosures can opt for mediation as an alternative to court.

The Sunday New York Times of December 28, 2014 reports that the average Facebook user spends 40 minutes a day on the site, time typically spent broadcasting one’s exploits and reading about their tens of thousands of friends’ achievements.  “Mary is getting married.” “ Sonia is graduating with honors.”  “Tim has scored his tenth touchdown.” At times, the news is not just a cheery entry; instead the writer moans about his or her heavy workloads -- a bragging event itself -- or his or her lack of sleep due to children’s demands or world travel, or….

Mediation is a tool that is used to help manage and resolve conflict and to arrive at (hopefully) a win-win situation. When people hear the word “mediation,” many first think of its use in a family law context: Divorced or divorcing parents working with a third party to amicably arrange a mutually beneficial schedule for their children or agree on an equitable distribution of the couple’s assets and liabilities. And, when many people hear the word “mediation” in that context, most laugh at the process hoop they must jump through before being heard by a judge; the mediation

The city of Moline and the owners of a crumbling retaining wall on 12th Street on Monday were ordered to mediation to try and settle the terms of its repair. Rock Island County Circuit Court Judge Lori Lefstein issued the order after Cheryl Colmark's attorney, Michael Massie, encouraged the mediation and said Ms. Colmark was prepared to start immediately. The limestone wall roughly stretches from 8th-11th Avenues, and holds back a hillside on top of which sits a mansion once owned by John Deere. The wall has been in disrepair for years, and more recently,

Justin Bieber’s attorneys and lawyers for a photographer suing him over an alleged attack back in May 2012 have agreed to delay the scheduled start of a civil suit trial on May 12 in order to try and settle the case. According to court papers filed by Bieber’s lawyers, a mediation session will take place on May 22 so that both parties can reach a settlement in the civil lawsuit filed by Jose Osmin Hernandez Duran in Los Angeles Superior Court in June 2013. The trial is rescheduled for June 16. Duran alleges that he tried to photograph Bieber and his then-girlfriend, Selena Gomez,