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Thursday, January 3, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Arbitration, Mediation, & Jury Trial - Apples & Oranges | Lesser Law ...
We have found that new clients unfamiliar with the litigation process often use the terms ?arbitration?, ?mediation?, and ?jury trial? interchangeably.? The fact of the matter is, however, their differences far exceed their similarities.? Arbitration as well as mediation are forms of alternative dispute resolution.? Cases may be referred to arbitration by court order, by agreement of the parties, or by contract.? The arbitrator(s) hears the evidence and renders a decision which is legally binding and enforceable upon the parties.? Proponents of arbitration argue it is beneficial and it is a much quicker process than proceeding to a jury trial.? Further, proponents of arbitration also contend that it is less expensive than traditional civil litigation.? A recent study published in Inside Counsel magazine, however, rebutted these arguments.? The comparative study of 19 single-plaintiff cases, of which 9 resolved through arbitration and 10 through court proceedings, found that arbitration, on average, is both more expensive as well as slower than litigation.? Here in South Florida, a typical three day arbitration costs upward of $45,000.00 (3 arbitrators at $5,000.00 per day per arbitrator).
As opposed to arbitration or a jury trial, mediation is a process where the parties involved in a dispute work with an impartial party, the mediator, to attempt to resolve the conflict.? In a typical mediation, each party has an opportunity to explain to the mediator his/her position.? At the conclusion of each parties? presentation, the parties are placed in separate rooms.? At that point, the mediator spends time separately with each party attempting effectuate an amicable resolution.? As opposed to an arbitrator?s ruling or a jury?s verdict, a mediator does not issue a binding ruling.? Instead, the mediator attempts to reach a mutual compromise.? This requires each party to agree to the resolution.
Finally, in a jury trial the finders of fact are a jury of one?s peers.? In Florida, the jury pool is comprised of individuals that are randomly selected from the driver?s license database.? Each individual receives a summons to serve on a jury.? Each party engages in a jury selection process where they have an opportunity to ask pertinent questions of the potential jurors.? A judge is still present throughout a jury trial.? During a jury trial, the judge is charged with determining all of the legal issues.? The jury is charged with the duty of listening to the evidence, applying the law as directed by the judge, and rendering its verdict.? In essence, a jury is a fact finder.? The jury?s verdict is binding upon the parties.
Although arbitrations, mediations and jury trials are each manners of resolving disputes, they are very different mechanisms.? At Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith, we have years of experience in determining which method, or methods, is in the best interest of our clients.? If you have any questions regarding the resolution of your dispute, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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No. 21 Northwestern ends drought in Gator Bowl
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is doused in the closing minute of the Wildcats 34-20 victory over Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Bob Self)
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is doused in the closing minute of the Wildcats 34-20 victory over Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Bob Self)
Northwestern defensive lineman Brian Arnfelt (91) and Bo Cisek (1) holds the trophy while their teammate Will Hampton (92) kisses it after the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game against Mississippi State, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013 in Jacksonville, Fla. Northwestern won 34-20. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
Northwestern defensive lineman Quentin Williams (88) returns a interception for a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Mississippi State, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
Mississippi State wide receivers Arceto Clark (19) and Chad Bumphis (1) celebrate Clark's touchdown catch against Northwestern during the first half of the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
Mississippi State running back LaDarius Perkins (27) eludes a tackle by Northwestern safety Jared Carpenter (27) during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Northwestern, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) ? The stuffed monkey spent the last year in storage, out of sight but still in everyone's mind.
Coach Pat Fitzgerald dusted it off for the Gator Bowl and even had it on the sideline Tuesday as a reminder of Northwestern's decades-long, bowl losing streak ? the ol' monkey on their backs.
Now, it's in pieces.
Behind huge interceptions early and late, No. 21 Northwestern beat Mississippi State 34-20 and snapped college football's longest postseason losing streak. The Wildcats (10-3) hadn't won a bowl game since 1949, a nine-game skid that was tied with Notre Dame for the longest in NCAA history.
It's history now. And as a reward, Fitzgerald let his players rip the monkey to shreds in the locker room.
"We've never been here before, but now we're here and here to stay with a new streak you can talk about in a positive fashion," Fitzgerald said.
Quentin Williams returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the game and Nick VanHoose set up another touchdown with a 39-yard interception return in the fourth. Those plays were the difference in a back-and-forth game that featured more interceptions (seven) than touchdowns (six).
In between, Northwestern's two-quarterback system kept the Bulldogs (8-5) off balance most of the day.
Scrambler Kain Colter ran for 71 yards, making up for his two interceptions. Backup Trevor Siemian threw for 120 yards and an interception, and also ran for a score.
Even with the turnovers, they were more efficient than Mississippi State's Tyler Russell.
Russell completed 12 of 28 passes for 106 yards, with two touchdowns and four interceptions. He had only thrown six picks in the first 11 games this season.
He threw interceptions on Mississippi State's first two possessions and tossed another one early in the second quarter. After falling behind 13-0, Russell settled down and got the Bulldogs back in the game.
"I talked to him going into the locker room after the third pick, said 'Go into the locker room, splash some water on your face, readjust your pads and forget that you came out to start the game,'" said coach Dan Mullen, whose team lost five of its final six games. "'Get in the tunnel, start jumping up and down again, get yourself tight and run out of the tunnel again.'"
It worked as Mississippi State tied the game at 13 in the third quarter.
On the other sideline, there had to be a sense of panic. After all, the Wildcats had blown three double-digit leads in the second half of three games this season. Northwestern surrendered big leads against Penn State, Nebraska and Michigan. That 'here-we-go-again' feeling easily could have taken over when Mississippi State seized momentum.
But the Wildcats didn't flinch. They responded with Siemian directing a 76-yard drive that put NU up for good. Tyris Jones bowled in from 3 yards out.
Siemian added a 4-yard TD run ? set up by Colter's 31-yard scamper ? that made it 27-13 with 26 seconds remaining in the third. That came after Russell's fourth pick, the one VanHoose grabbed near midfield.
"I feel like a big burden has been lifted off our shoulders," Colter said.
Venric Mark, Northwestern's all-everything back, finished with 56 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Mark and Colter were on the field for the final few snaps, watching from afar as the madness started to unfold on their sideline. The Wildcats spent the final 1:42 celebrating the program's first postseason victory since beating Cal in the 1949 Rose Bowl.
Defensive tackle Brian Arnfelt, one of the team's 25 seniors, doused Fitzgerald with a water bucket and then jumped into his arms. When the game ended, players danced at midfield and then ran toward the stands to recognize friends, family and fans. Fitzgerald playfully directed the band as it belted out the alma mater.
"This one goes to all the Wildcats that have been here before us," Fitzgerald said. "They've paved the way for us. ... The sky is the limit for where our program can go. ... We might not be putting the Big Ten championship trophy in our case, but we took a big step forward in accomplishing that mission today."
The Wildcats donned Gator Bowl championship hats and posed for pictures long after the final seconds ticked off the clock.
"It's just a great feeling," linebacker David Nwabuisi said. "It's unreal. It's like we keep saying, we haven't been here before. I'm kind of sad there is no confetti afterwards, but I'll deal with it. It was just good to be out there on the field as long as we wanted to."
A few minutes later, they got to rip the monkey to pieces.
"Every time I think about this, I start to tear up a little bit," said Williams, who also tipped another pass that was intercepted. "This is just a fantastic happening for our school. We've worked so hard to get to this point and it paid off. I've been here for five years and to finally get a win is just amazing."
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Macau casino revenue in 2012 rose to $38 billion
HONG KONG (AP) ? Casino revenue in Macau climbed 13.5 percent last year to a record $38 billion, as the Asian gambling hub reinforced its position as the world's biggest gambling market.
Gross revenue from Macau's 35 casinos also hit a monthly record in December, rising 20 percent to 28.2 billion Macau patacas ($3.5 billion), according to data posted on the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau on Wednesday.
But gambling revenue growth eased off in 2012 from the year before, when it rocketed 42 percent to $33.5 billion, as China's economy slowed and wealthy mainland Chinese gamblers held back amid fears about a crackdown on corruption.
Analysts noted that the decline in Chinese high-rollers, who account for two-thirds of Macau casino revenue, has been offset by growing numbers of middle-class Chinese.
Chinese gamblers account for the bulk of visitors to Macau, a former Portuguese colony that returned to Chinese control in 1999. The semiautonomous region, an hour by ferry west of Hong Kong, is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
Despite the moderating growth, casino operators have pushed ahead with expansion plans in Macau, where companies such as Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. earn the bulk of their profits. Some 90 percent of Sands' profit comes from Asia, including half from its Macau properties.
In October, MGM received approval to build a $2.5 billion casino resort, its second in Macau, while local operator SJM Holdings received land approval to build a 2,000-room hotel with 700 gambling tables. Earlier, Sands said it plans a Parisian-themed resort that would be its fourth casino project while Wynn unveiled plans for a $4 billion resort.
The new projects, which are expected to start opening by mid-2015 at the earliest, will be centered around the Cotai Strip, an area of reclaimed land between two islands that is modeled on the Las Vegas Strip.
Macau's economy has boomed since it ended a four-decade casino monopoly in 2002. Gambling revenue there has now swept far past Las Vegas, where growth has been flat in recent years as the market has matured. Las Vegas revenue totaled $6.1 billion in 2011.
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Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Netflix Goes Down: Company Says Only DVD Website Affected
Following its lengthy Christmas Eve outage, Netflix is again experiencing issues today, according to a message posted on the Netflix website, dozens of reports from users on Twitter, and other third-party website monitoring services.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/cN_TltYTJyg/
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Video: Maria Bartiromo on the 'Cliff'
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50333303/
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Keeping up energy key to Kendall tax protest
By Steve Lord slord@stmedianetwork.com December 30, 2012 5:00PM
Event organizer Mark Johnson talks taxes during a property tax revolt rally on Friday, June 1, 2012 at Yorkville's Town Square. | Steven Buyansky~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: December 30, 2012 7:50PM
YORKVILLE ? High property taxes in Kendall County, coupled with the continued down economy of 2012, prompted some to say ?enough.?
A true tax protest fomented in Kendall throughout the year, beginning with rallies in Yorkville and Oswego, and culminating in overwhelming passage of a non-binding referendum in November asking taxing bodies to cut their tax levies by 20 percent.
The anti-tax group started unofficially but grew into an organization led by Yorkville and Oswego area residents such as Judie Burks, Jan Alexander and Greg O?Neil. But the first face of the organization was a Yorkville-area man, Mark Johnson, a longtime watchdog at area governmental meetings.
It was Johnson who organized the first rally in early June in Yorkville?s Town Square Park. Besides it being a rally, Johnson made the event informational, in an attempt to help people better understand the tax cycle.
At a second rally in downtown Oswego in July, Johnson announced the group would try to get a referendum on the November ballot urging taxing bodies to cut their tax levies ? the amount of money a governmental agency asks for ? by 20 percent. Within a month, the group had collected more than 2,800 signatures for the referendum.
On Nov. 6, the referendum passed with more than 70 percent voting for it.
While some government officials privately referred to it as the ?free ice cream referendum? ? something nobody would be against ? they also showed that they are paying attention to it.
Many governmental agencies lowered their tax levies, although none by 20 percent.
Tax protesters have been showing up at local governmental meetings in Oswego and Yorkville, including Kendall County, to keep an eye on things, and even comment on some options involving salaries and staff levels of governmental bodies.
But as 2012 wound down, Johnson admitted he was losing some of the energy he had at the beginning of the organization?s formation. He has been calling for others to pick up the cudgels and help keep the momentum going.
He recently said the organization will report in January about what happened with local tax levies during 2012.
Source: http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/17264349-418/keeping-up-energy-key-to-kendall-tax-protest.html
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