judicial settlement conference

MaryN,

I believe that you have the wrong website to air your grievances. This site is for Board members and officers of an association where we can attempt to answer questions for each other inorder to run better associations . We help with statutes, rules and document understandings and your post does not address any of these situations. I suggest that you try another site. Sorry, Thank You

Jake,
Thank you. I've posted for almost a year. The attorney we(1/3 of the lot owners)are using was recommended by someone from this site. They are CAI attorneys. We've been thru the lower court and the Judge made a ruling against the HOA. He was very nice and spent almost 2 hours trying to explain to the HOA that they didn't have the power to do what they had done..the Board appealed his actions. They were very defiant and told the Judge that he didn't know what he was talking about. Trust me he did! An attorney is really necessary when one goes to the higher court. We were advised to file a complaint for injunctive relief and summary judgement. We did just that. As part of that action the property owners were notified, by us, when a "waiver" was sent to each one. It was at this point that they finally notified the property owners. Until that point most of the property owners had no idea about ANY court action. We have spent thousands of dollars and no one seems to know how much money..or where it is coming from for the HOA to pay the legal bills. We love our community..and have tried to work with the structure of the HOA. We tried to run for office...and held the minority position on the board..and the majority(3)would meet on the street..send mailouts..and then tell the Pres and Director what they had done. Needless to say...there were resignations...now they hold 100% of the positions because they were able to appoint the replacements. Believe me if there were another option we would have taken it. We are middle class folk and the money we are spending could and should have been used for something else. We have a very strong position..they have a very weak defense. So far I am the only one considering the avenue of a judicial settlement conference..and didn't mean to offend anyone with my post...just looking for information...and I've always been able to find good information on this site.
Thanks,
MaryN

I believe DonnaS was simply trying to help promote our posting rules, one of which is, "Topics from individual homeowners, who are not acting as association volunteers, are not addressed here & may be removed.".

The rule is there to prevent this site from filling with negative rants and non-constructive complaints like you see on other HOA discussion websites. In this case, I don't belive this topic is going in that direction and may be educational for some members, so it can stay.

Mary,

I'm glad it's worked out so far. Here's the info on the judicial settlement program in VA:

http://www.courts.state.va.us/jsc/home.html

For those who don't need the detail level Mary does, here's the short version:

In an effort to expand dispute resolution options for litigants, the judicial system has developed a unique Judicial Settlement Conference program for Circuit Court cases that combines aspects of facilitative mediation with judicial settlement techniques. Although the Judicial Settlement Conference has been available to Circuit Courts for many years pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 1:19, many courts have not utilized this due to insufficient time and resources. The Norfolk Circuit Court has however, for the past few years, brought retired Circuit Court Judges in to conduct settlement conferences in complex cases. The Norfolk program has been very successful in settling cases that would take multiple days to try and in reducing the court's docket.

The new, hybrid Judicial Settlement Conference program began on November 6-7, 2003 when a group of retired Circuit Court Judges were trained in mediation and settlement conference skills. U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Klein from North Dakota and U.S. Magistrate Judge William Cassady from Alabama conducted the 16-hour training which was held at the Supreme Court building in Richmond. These judges are available to all Circuit courts to provide settlement conference services at no cost to the parties. Parties referred to settlement conference may select any judge from this list of trained settlement judges to handle their matter. To date there have been over 600 referrals to the Judicial Settlement Conference program.

While the retired judges conducting settlement conferences are compensated in the same fashion as when recalled to active status, and technically in recalled status, they have no trial authority with regard to a given case, but merely assist the parties in assessing their case and possibly reaching settlement. In addition, the retired judge maintains confidentiality with respect to the settlement conference proceedings and only reports to the referring court the terms of the agreement, if authorized by the parties, or the fact that no agreement was reached.

In an effort to support the increased level of referral of cases to the Judicial Settlement Conference program, a second training was held on March 2-3, 2005 in which additional retired Circuit Court judges were provided mediation and settlement skills training. U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Klein and U.S. Magistrate Judge William Cassady again provided the training.

This program has opened new options for the circuit courts and litigants. Feedback from lawyers on exit surveys indicates that they appreciate the benefit of having an experienced judge with significant expertise facilitate the settlement of their case. Furthermore, they enjoy retaining more ability to control and craft a settlement, which is acceptable to them or, if not, proceed to trial. This has been an excellent process for reducing docket congestion while ensuring the prospects of a quality outcome. Finally, this program has offered retired judges an additional opportunity to stay active, to use the skills developed as a judge, and to develop new skills in facilitating settlements.

Joe