Robert J. Kaplan, Mediatorc/o Judicate West ADR Services
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San Diego, CA 92101
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Representative CasesMediator Robert J. Kaplan, Esq. specializes in settling the most challenging cases. Examples include:
Business
- Misappropriation of trade secrets and tortious interference with contract dispute in which the plaintiff business was represented by one of the top 5 largest law firms in California. The case settled in one full-day session.
- Wrongful termination case involving a relatively very little amount of money; yet, a lot of anger towards plaintiff’s ex-employer. The parties had reserved a half day; and, it took several hours of telephonic follow-up to get the case resolved.
- Business fraud action (with alter ego allegations), a cross-complaint for slander and a related out-of-state bankruptcy action. This extremely complex multi-party case settled following a full-day session and a full-day (10 hrs) of telephonic follow-up.
- Wage & Hour mediation that started at 9am. Defendant employer literally started walking out the door at 7pm. The 664.6 Stipulation for Settlement was signed at 10pm.
- Investor Fraud case involving all elderly plaintiffs. Case settled after 2 full days of mediation and 8.5 hours of telephonic follow-up.
- Patent Infringement Indemnification case involving 2 of the most prominent nationwide firms in the IP arena. Settled in a full-day mediation.
- Approximately half a dozen Franchisee v. Franchisor disputes involving one of the largest franchises in the world. On one of the cases, the parties asked Mr. Kaplan to conduct the mediation in the Franchisee’s hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. Although that case did not settle at the mediation in Arkansas, when Mr. Kaplan found out – months later -- that both sides battalions of attorneys had arrived in southern California; and, that the case was going to binding arbitration following the upcoming weekend, he re-injected himself into the case, worked the phones throughout the weekend and got it resolved after 10 hrs of telephonic follow-up.
- Wrongful Termination of an executive. Scorched earth litigation. The case settled for 3 million dollars after 12 hours of non-stop mediation.
- 30 year partnership dispute: $2.85 million demand, zero offer and NO insurance -- with Defendant’s first question to Mr. Kaplan being “How are you going to get this case settled if I’m not willing to pay that [expletive deleted] one stinking penny?!” Settled following one full-day session and 15 hours of telephonic follow-up.
- Hotly contested attorney fee dispute between two attorneys as to who was entitled to a $1 million fee. Settled in one full-day session.
- Intellectual Property Conversion case. A previous mediation with another mediator ended with the parties walking out in about an hour. This time, they stayed for the entire full-day session; and, the case settled.
- Prevailing wage case that had previously been to four different mediators. Settled at 11pm on Sunday evening after "emergency" full-day Saturday session and full-day plus Sunday session.
- Minority Shareholder dispute with both parties being represented by a Top 50 California law firm. The mediation began at 9am and the settlement was signed off on just minutes before midnight.
Insurance
- One insurance carrier and 3 very well-known plaintiff firms who are collectively handling several hundred of the “underinsurance” claims arising out of the massive October 2003 southern California wild fires – agreed to have Mr. Kaplan do a “binding mediation” on their 4 most difficult cases.
- Disability Bad Faith case involving multi-million dollars of contractual benefits and significant bad faith allegations. The case settled for the mediator’s proposal made at the end of the second session.
- Failure to accept policy limits case – i.e., the insured tortfeasor was exposed to significant personal liability and his insurance carrier to an inevitable “excess” bad faith case. This case settled in one full-day session.
- Bad Faith case in which plaintiff’s initial demand was just shy of a million dollars. Case settled in a half-day mediation for a 5 figure amount. As difficult as it was to convince plaintiff and his counsel that his case was not worth anywhere near the amount demanded; later in the same week, another Bad Faith case (involving a completely different type of insurance) was mediated; only this time, the shoe was on the other foot. That case could have settled for 5 figures. However, new counsel (known for handling the specific kind of case in dispute) substituted in; and, the carrier had to be convinced that it made sense for it to settle for approximately 6 times the amount it could have settled just several months earlier. That case settled in a full-day mediation.
- Broker negligence/Bad Faith case in which the defendant insurance company, the premium finance company and one of the defendant brokers settled following a 12 hr full-day mediation and 2.5 hrs of telephonic follow-up. The case went to trial as to the remaining broker defendant (who had NO E&O insurance.) The broker’s defense attorney called Mr. Kaplan after the trial to inform him that although his client obtained a defense verdict – he thought that the stress of going thru trial “was literally going to kill his client…”. Defense counsel also indicated that “at the end of the day”, it ended up costing his client “more than 3 times” of what the case could have been settled for.
- Multi-million dollar Directors & Officers Liability insurance dispute. The case settled following a full-day mediation and a relatively small amount of telephonic follow-up.
Serious Injury and Death
- Wrongful death case involving a shooting by a patron at a well-known restaurant and bar chain. Numerous challenging legal issues. The case settled in a one-day session.
- 14 plaintiff mediation involving 25 attorneys and insurance representatives (and a small army of structured settlement people.) Four of the most seriously injured plaintiffs were settled for an 8 figure amount following a 2 full-day mediation and 8 hours of telephonic follow-up.
- Helicopter crash case involving many defendants and a plaintiff who had irrational views of the value of her case notwithstanding the fact that her highly experienced lawyer had done everything he could to disabuse her of her beliefs. The case settled in one full-day mediation.
- Brain damage case in which the case settled following the mediation, which began at 9am and went non-stop until 11pm.
- Wrongful death products liability case: $15 million demand. Zero offer. Settled in one full-day session and eight hours of telephonic follow-up over the next several weeks.
- Wrongful Death case. Settled for $6 million in 1 full-day session. Within the same month, another Wrongful Death case that was, in many respects even more challenging, settled for $50,000.
Professional Liability
- Legal malpractice case arising out of the manner in which the defendant law firm defended a governmental entity and several city officials in an underlying action that involved highly publicized alleged defamation and other bad acts by those officials. A pivotal insurance carrier who was not even a party to legal mal case (who, however, recognized that it would be a defendant in a subsequent Bad Faith case) attended the mediation and ended up essentially funding the entire settlement (thereby resulting in the defendant law firm’s E&O carrier not having to contribute anything.)
- Dental malpractice case arising out of an alleged “botched root canal” and the defendant dentists alleged concealment of material information from the plaintiff. Case settled in one full-day session.
- Very early mediation of legal malpractice case that carrier’s counsel called “a monster and nightmare.” Settled at end of second full-day session.
- Insurance Broker malpractice. At first, the insured refused to consent to settlement. Later he was convinced that it was in his best interest to consent; and, the case settled in the early evening.
Real Estate
- Sub contractor v. General contractor dispute arising out of an 8 figure Los Angeles “mixed use” residential/commercial development project. Both parties claimed multi-million dollars in damages. Case settled at end of a 12 hour non-stop full-day plus mediation.
- Inverse condemnation. Both counsel proclaimed that if Mr. Kaplan was able to settle the case, he should be “crowned Mediator of the Century”. The case settled; however, there was no coronation.
- Plaintiff buyer alleged that a person who he had considered to be a quasi-friend – i.e., the defendant seller (who was an uninsured Real Estate broker) -- committed fraud by failing to disclose numerous defects and by failing to disclose that he was “double escrowing” the house in issue and as a result, putting nearly $200,000 in his pocket in connection with the house in issue. The case settled following a half-day (5 hour) mediation
- Multi-million dollar mobile home park case which had previously been mediated with a highly prominent mediator. The case settled in one full-day mediation.
- Easement dispute/fraud case (and cross-complaint) -- which had been to 2 mediators before the case went to trial (wherein plaintiffs had obtained a verdict of both compensatory and punitive damages.) Before coming to Mr. Kaplan, the case had been to a 3rd mediator. The case settled following an 11 hour non-stop session.
Other
- A Federal Magistrate Judge ordered the parties and their counsel from all over the United States (involved in 4 inter-related actions in Connecticut, Florida, Mississippi and California) to appear before Mr. Kaplan in a 2 day mediation. The cases involved 8 (and potentially 9) figure claims; and, among many other things, claims of extortion, RICO, missappropriation of trade secrets and employment law violations. Each of the parties and every attorney - without exception - came into the mediation saying that there was no way the case(s) were going to settle. At nearly 11pm on the 2nd day of the mediation a Global settlement was reached.
- Sexual assault case by a woman of high social standing against an extremely high profile company. Plaintiff’s attorney is considered one of the top attorneys in handling sexual assault cases and the lead defense firm is considered one of “the boutique” employment firms. This highly emotionally charged case settled in one full-day session.
- Sexual assault case involving (by her own attorney’s admission) an “irrational” plaintiff and numerous serious insurance coverage disputes. Everyone involved thought, “this one is going to trial…” The case settled in one full-day session.
- $35 million probate dispute in which a name partner in a prominent defense firm disclosed to Mr. Kaplan (after the case had settled), “I told my client before the mediation that I honestly felt this case had less than a 10% chance of settling.” Settled in slightly more than one full-day session.
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