Mediation Areas of Practice
My background is founded with a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking at Fresno Pacific University. I was Director, FPU Mediation Services Civil & Probate Division, Superior Court, County of Fresno for 12 years. I am an associate with the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies mediation panel. I earned a BA in Rhetoric with an emphasis in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley (’77). I maintain continuing education with excessive hours of certified mediation training including hours from the California State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. I have been trained in construction dispute arbitration certified by the New Mexico Bar and as an employment mediator by the EEOC. I have twenty-eight years of experience in retail business ownership and real estate management. I am a Research Consultant and advanced mediation trainer for the Fresno County Superior Court. I consider myself a conflict resolution specialist.
My work as Director, Mediation Services Civil & Probate Division and Lead Mediator for the Fresno County Superior Court Dispute Resolution Program Act (DRPA) established my expertise in:
Related Work
Receiver:
Courts appoint receivers to take custody, manage, and preserve money or property that is subject to litigation so that when the final judgment is rendered, the property remains available to accomplish what has been ordered. The power to appoint a receiver is rarely utilized by the courts, and only upon a showing that it is required to preserve the property. Receivership cannot properly be used to coerce a party or to gain control of a business from someone who is capable of managing it. Receivership is an extraordinary remedy, designed to benefit everyone involved. It is, however, a harsh remedy, since it involves restraining an individual’s property, removing it from his control, and causing additional legal expenses.
The appointment of a receiver, which is a provisional remedy to be exercised while litigation is pending, is ordinarily prescribed by statute, as are a receiver’s powers. Ordinarily a receiver can be appointed only after a lawsuit is initiated.
According to the statutes of different states, receivers have been appointed in actions for Divorce, the removal of a trustee, or the foreclosure of a mortgage and in proceedings for the dissolution of a corporation, for an accounting of partnership money, or for a creditor’s suit. The appointment of a receiver is justified when property in dispute is allowed to deteriorate to the extent where emergency repairs are necessary, and where there is good reason to suspect that the property is going to be sold, wasted, taken out of state, misused, or destroyed if the court does not act to preserve it. A receiver can also be appointed in situations where it appears that no one with a legal right to manage certain property is present, or no mentally competent adult is entitled to hold it. A receiver is sometimes appointed to preserve property during litigation between two parties who appear to have an equal right to use the property but who are unwilling to acknowledge each other’s interest.
A judge can appoint a receiver following the filing of an application, or petition, with the court. In certain instances, all those who are interested in a case join together, and in the event that the court has jurisdiction over the property and the parties, an appointment can proceed upon their consent.
An application for the appointment of a receiver is often submitted by a creditor. It might be Fraud or collusion for a debtor to have a friendly creditor nominate an individual the debtor chooses. A receiver generally should not be appointed unless notice is served on all interested parties and a hearing is conducted where a judge determines the merits of the case. On good evidence that an emergency exists, however, a judge can grant the petition for a receivership and hold a hearing as soon as possible thereafter.
