Hon. Frank J. Ochoa (Ret.) Biography

ADR Experience

Mediator Experience Includes mediating many hundreds of cases during years on the bench and in private practice as a lawyer and as a private neutral. Case types have included commercial and contract disputes, real estate, property, employment, personal injury, probate, and many other types of civil cases. In one property dispute related to probate, two siblings were suing each other over their father’s last asset, the family home. The dispute was over percentage split each would receive from the sale of the palatial but dilapidated downtown Santa Barbara home. It was to be sold at X$. Worked out an “internal flip” of the property. Obtained agreement for one party to pay for renovations with funds expended reimbursed off the top from sale. Oversaw and managed the renovation process and sale of the property for 1 ½ years. Property sold for 3X$, substantially increasing each party’s monetary gain and laying groundwork for possible family reconciliation. Representative Issues Handled as Mediator Disputes over contract terms involving major hospital groups and insurance carriers with hundreds of patient claims at issue. Property issues regarding boundary lines, neighbor usage concerns, view impairment disputes. Personal injury claims involving complex medical and causation issues. Employment contract disputes involving single and multiple parties. Business creation and dissolution cases with multiple layers of issues.

Approach

Mediator Style & Process Preferences I usually have a joint introductory session where I review the benefits of mediation with the disputants. I note that a famous lawyer once gave advice to other lawyers saying, “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser – in fees, expenses, and waste of time.” I inform them that the quote is from a lawyer named Abraham Lincoln. And, I add that permanent destruction of relationships is another cost of the courtroom process which can be reduced or eliminated in a mediation. I started the Santa Barbara court’s ADR program decades ago. Mediation is a form of ADR-commonly called Alternative Dispute Resolution. I called our program the court’s Appropriate Dispute Resolution program. I had learned that courtroom trials are often not the best way to resolve disputes, and, at times, are clearly the worst way to resolve disputes. I often find a different case from that depicted in the paper submissions once the mediation process commences. I work to identify the factors impelling the dispute and endeavor to obtain resolution of those underlying factors, or to help the parties identify them and remove them from the dispute resolution equation. I inform the parties of the counter productive aspects of courtroom processes and the creative possibilities of mediation. There is nearly always an emotional dispute which accompanies a legal dispute. The parties need to be helped past the emotional level to be able to focus on the logics of the legal dispute. I usually begin with a facilitative mediation style. If needed to secure progress, I transition into a more directive style. If factors such as an imbalance in power arises, adjustments may need to be made. A mediation is not an event. It is a process. Each one is different. And shepherding the parties from active disputants to people with their fight in “the rear-view mirror”, takes patience and understanding. And the mediator must be constantly engaging in self-check processes. You may develop a perceptive framework of the dispute built on deductions and conclusions from the communications occurring. The neutral must constantly re-examine those perceptions, realize that he or she could be off the true mark, and needs to make adjustments in mid-stream. Or even hit the reset button.  The goal is to find a resolution which the parties can agree is the best way to resolve their dispute even if it is not a "slam dunk".  Those may happen in basket ball games, but not in courtrooms.  Being willing to accept a compromise, or a previously unthought of resolution of the dispute allows one to enter a new day. A legal dispute is a roadblock on the path of life, and removal of that blockage has immeasurable benefits to each of the parties.

Areas of Practice

Additional Services

Languages Spoken

• English and basic Spanish

Liability Insurance

Yes