FORUM COLUMN

Daily Journal, July 24, 2009

By Victoria Pynchon

Nearly every condominium complex harbors an outlaw - the man, woman, couple or family who refuses to follow the rules, such as the college kids who blast the woofers off their stereo system at 3 a.m., the elderly woman who doesn't clean up after her dog or the raucous family that plays "Marco Polo" in the community pool after midnight.

Offended and outraged, other homeowners make demands on their volunteer board, which contacts the (often unresponsive) management company. The homeowners association board does its best. It issues warnings to procure compliance to no avail. Eventually, someone reads the covenants, conditions and restrictions. They learn that the board has enforceable legal duties and that the homeowners have actionable legal rights.

Many of these disputes make their way to the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Dispute Resolution Center in West Hollywood. And some of them make their way to me.

Welcome to community mediation - the non-zero-sum, value-based, rights-seeking, joint session transformative dispute resolution process. We're well trained and we're free.

But can we deliver justice?

Continue reading here.

(.pdf here)