Mediation Case Law Teaching Videos

Jim Coben

Starting in 2006, as part of the annual Minnesota State Bar Association/Minnesota CLE ADR Institute, Mitchell Hamline School of Law Professor James Coben has been producing short videos illustrating mediation litigation.

For reasons that will become obvious when you view the videos, please also provide your audience with the following disclaimer: Some of the video enactments you are about to see portray “less than optimal” mediator performance. Rest assured that you are not at risk by hiring any of the ADR Institute Players as neutrals (or lawyers), despite what you see on the tape.

The videos are fictional reenactments of the mediations underlying the published litigated cases. The “scripts” were developed solely by reading the written trial or appellate court decision – by no means a perfect window into what actually happened in a particular case.

Special thanks to Jodie Dulac and Justin Rooney for video production assistance and to the ADR Institute Players for their creativity and improvisation skills: Ellen Abbott, David Allgeyer, Hugh Bishop, James Coben, Ken Fox, Barbara Freese, Aimee Gourlay, John Heimbuch, Joe Kenyon, Michael Landrum, David Lauth, Susan Mainzer, Bobbi McAdoo, Mark McCrea, Leslie McEvoy, Marilyn McNight, Timothy Morrow, Lara Nafzinger, Rebecca Picard, Sharon Press, Ariana Prusak, Keith Prusak, Dan Simon, Sukh Singh, Jenelle Soderquist, Madge Thorsen, Gary Weissman, Robert Williams, Eduardo Wolle, and Jeanne Zimmer.

Feel free to use these videos in your teaching and training. There is no charge for use; we ask only that you notify the Mitchell Hamline School of Law Dispute Resolution Institute that you are using the videos and describe the context. Whenever the videos are shown, please attribute them in the following way: Produced by Professor James Coben and the Minnesota State Bar Association/Minnesota CLE.

Confidentiality

Benavidez v. Andrus-Maxwell, No. CV 21-320 JHR/SCY, 2021 WL 4820643 (D.N.M. Oct. 15, 2021)

Foxgate Homeowners’ Assoc., Inc v. Bramalea Cal., Inc., 25 P.3d 1117 (Cal. 2001)

Rojas v. Los Angeles County Superior Ct., 93 P.3d 260 (Cal. 2004)

State v. Williams, 877 A.2d 1258 (N.J. 2005)

Tyler v. Findling, 508 Mich. 364, 972 N.W.2d 833 (2021), reh’g denied, 508 Mich. 940, 964 N.W.2d 41 (Mem)(Sept. 22, 2021)

Uniform Mediation Act Overview (As Part of “Fictional” Mediator Opening Statement)

Enforcement

Breslin v. Breslin, 62 Cal. App. 5th 801, 276 Cal. Rptr. 3d 913 (2021), reh’g denied (April 20, 2021), review denied (July 14, 2021)

Buckley v. Shealy, 635 S.E.2d 76 (S.C. 2006)

Catamount Slate Products, Inc. v. Sheldon, 845 A.2d 324 (Vt. 2003)

Chesney v. Hypertension Diagnostics, Inc., A05-2210, 2006 WL 2256590 (Minn. App. Aug. 8, 2006)

Donna S. v. Travis S., 246 W.Va. 634, 874 S.E.2d 746 (2022)

Estate of Barber v. Guilford County Sheriff’s Department, 589 S.E.2d 433 (N.C. App. 2003)

Fair v. Bakhtiari, 19 Cal.Rptr.3d 591 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004)

Fivecoat v. Publix Super Markets, Inc., 928 So.2d 402 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. April 11, 2006)

Guthrie v. Guthrie, 594 S.E.2d 356 (Ga. 2004)

Heaven & Earth, Inc. v. Wyman Properties Limited Partnership, No. Civ. 03-3327, 2004 WL 2931347 (D. Minn., November 4, 2004)

In re O.R. v. J.R., No. E034376, 2004 WL 585583 (Cal. App. Mar. 25, 2004)

In re Rains, 428 F.3d 893 (9th Cir. 2005)

In re Terrence, 833 N.E.2d 206 (Ohio Ct. App. 2005)

Kakani v. Oracle Corp., No. C 06-06493 WHA, 2007 WL 1793774 (N.D. Cal., June 19, 2007)

Ledbetter v. Ledbetter, 163 S.W.3d 681 (Tenn. 2005)

Lee v. Lee, 158 S.W.3d 612 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005)

McDermott v. City of North Olmsted, Ohio, 178 Fed.Appx. 515 (6th Cir. April 27, 2006)

Ryles v. Palace Hotel, No. C 04-5326 SBA, 2006 WL 3093678 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 27, 2006)

Stories Mediation Parties Tell, Part 1 (Compelling, but Nonetheless Enforceable)

Stories Mediation Parties Tell, Part 2 (A Winning Claim?)

Stories Mediation Parties Tell, Part 3 (“Mediation Rashomon”: What a Plaintiff Claims to Have Heard; What a Mediator Claims to Have Said)

Vitakis v. Valchine, 793 So. 2d 1094 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2001)

Zimmerman v. Zimmerman, No. 04-04-00347-CV, 2005 WL 1812613 (Tex. App. Aug. 3, 2005)

Ethics – Malpractice

Home Depot, U.S.A., Inc., v. Saul Subsidiary I Ltd. Partn., 159 S.W.3d 339 (Ky. Ct. App. 2004)

In re Non-Member of State Bar of Arizona, 152 P.3d 1183 (Ariz. 2007)

In re Philpot, 820 N.E.2d 141 (Ind. 2005)

Morgan Phillips, Inc. v. JAMS/Endispute, L.L.C., 44 Cal.Rptr.3d 782 (Cal. Ct. App. 2 Dist. June 20, 2006)

Sealed Party v. Sealed Party, No. CIV. A. H-04-2229, 2006 WL 1207732 (S.D. Tex. May 4, 2006)

Shake v. The Ethics Committee of the Kentucky Judiciary, 122 S.W.3d 577 (Ky. 2003)

Simpson v. JAMS/Endispute, L.L.C., No. A110634, 2006 WL 2076028 (Cal.App. 1 Dist. July 26, 2006)

Statewide Grievance Committee v. Kennelly, No. CV040833515S, 2005 WL 758055 (Conn. Super., Feb. 25, 2005)

Wimsatt v. Superior Court, 61 Cal.Rptr.3d 200 (Ct. App. 2007)

Sanctions

Allstate Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Harbin, 333 So.3d 655 (Ala. 2021)

Brooks v. Lincoln National Life Ins. Co., No. 8:05CV118, 2006 WL 2487937 (D. Neb. Aug. 25, 2006)

In re Fletcher, 424 F.3d 783 (8th Cir. 2005)

Irwin Seating Co. v. Int’l Bus. Mach, Corp., No. 1:04CV568, 2006 WL 3446584 (W.D. Mich. Nov. 29, 2006)

Lawson v. Brown’s Home Day Care Center, Inc., No. 2003-112, 2004 WL 1586888 (Vt. July 8, 2004)

Smith Wholesale Co., Inc. v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., No. 2:03-CV-221, 2005 WL 1230436 (E.D. Tenn. May 24, 2005)

Miscellaneous

Emerson v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, No. 5877-00, 2003 WL 1392574 (U.S. Tax Ct., March 20, 2003)

In re Marriage of Craze, 133 Wash. App. 1023 (Wash. Ct. App. 2006)

Kline v. Berg Drywall, Inc., 685 N.W.2d 12 (Minn. 2004)

M. A. B. v. Buell, 366 Or. 553, 466 P.3d 949 (2020)

Reid v. Kroll, No. 2181CV00769, 2021 WL 5711257 (Mass. Super. 2021)

U.S. Steel Mining Co., L.L.C. v. Wilson Downhole Serv., No. 02:00CV1758, 2006 WL 2869535 (W.D. Pa. Oct 5, 2006)