By Liz Kellar of “The Union”

A Superior Court judge has issued a mixed bag of rulings in the wrongful termination suit filed by former Family Court Services mediator Emily Gallup.

The suit filed in March by Gallup’s attorney, M. Catherine Jones, against Nevada County Superior Court, Court Executive Officer Sean Metroka, Human Resources Director Thea Palmiere and Family Court Services Interim Director Carmella Smith Cellini claimed wrongful termination in violation of public policy, violation of federal due process law, retaliation for refusing to engage in illegal conduct, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Gallup is requesting back pay, lost wages and benefits; payment of her legal costs; general damages; and compensatory damages for emotional distress.

Judge Richard Sueyoshi of the Sacramento County Superior Court ruled on Thursday that three causes of action will proceed, while dismissing two. A further status conference has not yet been scheduled.

The whistle-blower portion of the case remains intact, according to Gallup.

“I’m very happy,” Gallup said Friday. “At age 35, I had my career derailed simply because I wanted to follow the law, and I’m grateful I have the chance to show this was wrongful termination. . . More

By Liz Kellar of “The Union”

Emily Gallup isn’t giving up. And she isn’t going away.

The former Family Court mediator has been engaged in a protracted battle with Nevada County Superior Court’s Family Court Services after she was fired in December. She filed a grievance and won an arbitration award that had ordered an audit of Family Court, but that was overturned at the end of April.

Gallup, who is alleging the court violated state statutes and its own rules, still has a wrongful termination suit in federal court against the Nevada County Superior Court, which will likely not be heard until next April.

Over the last two weeks, Gallup has been a very visible presence on the courthouse steps, as she — and members of the advocacy group she helped found, Nevada County Family Court Reformers — has been handing out bright-orange flyers to folks heading to Family Court orientation on Tuesday mornings and to Family Court hearings on Wednesday mornings.

“I haven’t given up on my larger goal of getting this court audited,” Gallup said Tuesday. “But I think it’s going to take a lot of time, and I don’t want people to suffer needlessly in the meantime.” . . . More

By Brian Hamilton
Staff Writer for The Union

An arbitration award that had ordered an audit of Nevada County Superior Court’s Family Court Services has been overturned.

The petition to vacate the award was filed in Nevada County Superior Court in March and requested that a ruling be set aside that was issued in a grievance filed by Emily Gallup, a former family court mediator who alleged the court had violated state statutes and its own rules.

Judge James D. Garbolino, a retired Placer County judge who on Friday presided over a petition by Nevada County Superior Court to vacate the arbitration ruling, has ordered the arbitrator’s award be set aside.

“The court has examined the substance of the arbitrator’s award, and has determined that for the most part, it was entered in excess of the jurisdiction of the arbitrator to determine the questions involving an audit of the court’s mediation compensation exclusivity rule,” Garbolino wrote in a nine-page ruling . . . More

from yubanet.com

NEVADA CITY, Calif. May 1, 2011 – The Nevada County Superior Court won a recent battle in a war that they will eventually lose. The court retained a powerful private law firm out of San Francisco to avoid having the Family Court Services Department audited. They were successful, and they were lucky to have prevailed. They knew that an audit would have uncovered many problems.

I spent the last four and a half years working as a mediator for the Nevada County Family Court, and I have watched the system fail time and again. My job as a mediator was to help parents create custody plans that were likely to work for their children. If parents were unable to reach agreement, I was charged with making a custody recommendation to the court. Mediators’ recommendations are important, because they are usually ordered by the judge. Although mediation was a stressful job, I found it deeply gratifying to help people navigate through difficult times. I thought I would be a mediator for the next thirty years.

In October of 2009, the family court services director retired. The new director, in conjunction with the family law judge, Julie McManus, began making significant changes to our department’s protocol. I was given the impossible task of reviewing legal files, meeting with parents, and preparing recommendations for the court within one hour. I was blocked from reviewing parents’ criminal background information or making collateral contacts before making potentially life-altering recommendations to the court. I listened to the judge tell parents if they couldn’t just get along, their children might commit suicide . . . More

The Union staff

An arbitration award that had ordered an audit of Nevada County Superior Court’s Family Court Services has been overturned.

Judge James D. Garbolino, a retired Placer County judge who on Friday presided over a petition by Nevada County Superior Court to vacate the arbitration ruling, has ordered the arbitrator’s award be set aside  . . . More

Former family court mediator organizes protest

By Brian Hamilton
Staff Writer for The Union

From black-clad protesters on the courthouse steps to sharply dressed lawyers at a hearing inside, plenty of arguments flew Friday over a ruling on a grievance filed by a former family court mediator.

But all parties involved should be able to agree upon one thing, the presiding judge said: the impact of family court on the lives of the mothers, fathers and children who walk through its doors seeking resolutions to extremely sensitive situations.

“To them, it’s the most significant thing that will happen in a lifetime, when they might have to go into a courtroom,” said James D. Garbolino, a retired Placer County judge who heard the case Friday at the Nevada County Courthouse in Nevada City.

Family court handles cases where parties seek court intervention to solve their family issues. Judges hear and decide cases involving divorce, paternity, domestic violence and abuse, child custody, support and visitation.

The court also provides mediation to help parents resolve child support, child custody and visitation problems.

But some people are deeply unhappy with Nevada County Superior Court’s Family Court Services.

Court officials had filed a petition to overturn an arbitration ruling ordering an audit of family court . . . More

By Liz Kellar
Staff Writer of The Union

Black-clad protesters are expected to descend on the Nevada County courthouse in Nevada City at noon on Friday, demanding the court uphold an arbitrator’s award that ordered an independent audit of the court’s family law mediation programs and processes.

The arbitrator’s award in favor of former mediator Emily Gallup has been contested by Nevada County Superior Court, and a hearing is set on that matter at 1:30 p.m. in Department 5.

The former Nevada County Family Court Services mediator had prevailed in a grievance against Nevada County Superior Court, claiming that Family Court Services violated state statutes and rules of court governing the mediation process.

Gallup alleged her supervisors did not afford her ample time to mediate custody cases and did not allow her to consider relevant information, including criminal background checks . . . More