Success Stories

I specialize in mediations that are business related, which are also bound by longer-term relationships or interactions. These include professional and other associations, business partnerships, community, and corporate interactions.

This was the case of dispute between an owner and board of a small high-end hillside condo building, in which the owner’s demands to repair a leaking wall included threats of legal action.

In this case, the former president of the HOA was left uncertain as to how to proceed given repeated legal threats from the impacted owner’s unit to a board he was no longer officially on. The current HOA president had declined to respond to the owner communications, and the property manager had recently quite working for the HOA.

I consulted with the former president and worked with him to effectively re-engage the current HOA leadership, which had otherwise resigned itself to fulfilling all of the demands of the owner rather than engage with the concerned homeowner. Some of the owner demands were appropriate, but many were essentially punitive.

After several consultations over the course of about two months, the former president was able to re-engage with the current leadership and persuade them to step up and meet with the property owner and negotiate an appropriate resolution to the structural issues. No further legal action was taken, and the corrective work was done shortly thereafter. The HOA saved about $12,000.00 by engaging rather than taking a more passive stance.

Re-Engaging an Un-engaged HOA Leadership

Protracted Landlord Tenant Dispute

This was the case of a series of disputes between a landlord and tenant over the condition of a high-end rental cottage in a desirable residential neighborhood. This ultimately resulted in the peaceful parting of ways between the two parties.

In this case, a tenant requested multiple upgrades for and submitted official complaints to the city regarding a cottage unit she rented from by a single property-owner landlord. The landlord agreed to fulfill the initial requests – which, in all but one case, was not required by city ordinance.

However, the landlord became alarmed when the tenant continued to make increasingly aggressive demands and lodged several official complaints with the city regarding the unit. In this case, I acted as a negotiation consultant to the landlord, as the tenant declined offers to mediate or facilitate. I helped the landlord continue to engage with the tenant in a manner that allowed her to de-escalate, and focus on key elements of the dispute. Within a few months, the tenant left of her own accord.

This was the case of a three-party dispute between two business partners who owned a retail office-space franchise and their head of sales. The two partners differed on how to manage a dispute with their employee regarding process and policy as the organization grew.

In this case, I was contacted by one of two business partners after the dispute had already been simmering for nearly a year. They were under significant pressure to address the problem quickly, as the organization was on the verge of doubling in size – increasing from 5 to 10 retail locations – and they needed to be able to attract new clients and fill space by the time the build-out was complete.

I worked separately with each of the business partners, advising them on effective ways to negotiate both between themselves and their head of sales to address a variety of disputed issues.

Ultimately, the head of sales left on her own accord – amicably. By implementing new resolution methods, and negotiating with interest rather than position-based methods, all parties were able to resolve their disputes productively.

This also allowed the partners to move forward with their expansion plans quickly, hiring hire a new head of sales well suited to a rapidly growing organization. Within a year, one of the partners bought out the other’s controlling shares (also amicably), allowing the selling partner to realize a long desired cash-out while retaining an equity-stake, and allowing the remaining partner to continue to grow the business.

Helping a Business Partnership in Growth Mode

Dilapidated HOA Building

Noah Stein Mediation helping mediate a real-estate investment gone wrong. The result was a master-plan, an unusually successful transformation of an HOA building, and higher property values across all units.

In this case, four of ten condominium units had been purchased by new owners within a six month period. After sale of the units, it was determined that the extent of repairs required to the exterior building were more substantial than originally known. The four new owners had to choose what their best option was: litigate against previous (and possibly current) owners, take no action, or negotiate another outcome. In a lengthy meeting and planning process, I helped the new and existing owners create a process to upgrade the building together. The result was a master-plan, an unusually successful transformation of an HOA building, and higher property values across all units.

Noah Stein Mediation helped solve two-years of unresolved negotiations. In the end a solution was reached, implemented, and ratified by a community-wide vote.

In this case, representatives from several individual blocks in a neighborhood, working with the Department of Transportation, experienced increased tensions when a plan to abate traffic was implemented after two years of un-resolved negotiations. I was contacted by several of the participants to help facilitate a new agreement. A new solution was agreed to and implemented within six months, and ratified by a community-wide vote.

Traffic Abatement Dispute

What I Can Do For You?

(213) 574-7100

Hoping to find our own success story? If you feel mediation is right for you – or even if you’re still not sure – give me call! I’d be happy to hear about your situation and guide you towards the best possible path.