Author Archives: abfifer

Guns and Mediation, Again

It happened again last week: a shooting after a mediation. As a divorcing couple was leaving the attorney-mediator’s office in Manchester, Tennessee, last Wednesday, the wife pulled out a handgun and shot her estranged husband. The husband, Dr. Henry Bartee, is recovering in hospital, and the wife, Brenda Bartee, has been charged with attempted murder. […]

Christians Take Another Dispute to Court

Josh Eckel and Tyler Mileger, Christian founders of a small clothing company based in Dallas, Texas, called “Play Hard Pray Harder”, filed a lawsuit against Josh Hamilton, also a professing Christian, after discovering that Hamilton had been promoting the same “Play Hard Pray Harder” slogan on clothing sold by Scripture Art, a company that Hamilton […]

Peacemaking Court

Michigan is going to have a “Peacemaking Court.” Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Timothy Connors has received a grant from the Michigan Supreme Court to establish a Peacemaking Court in Ann Arbor. I’m especially heartened that my colleague Susan Butterwick will be leading this innovative project—she has the right experience and perspective to make it work […]

Kwame Kilpatrick Apologizes

It’s instructive to analyze public apologies, and we had another chance a couple weeks ago at the sentencing of Kwame Kilpatrick, former Mayor of Detroit, who was found guilty by a federal jury in March of corruption, receiving bribes, failure to report income to the IRS, etc. Mr. Kilpatrick apparently had quite a bit to […]

“I’ll Fly Away” to Court

“I’ll Fly Away” to Court We are saddened by news that the beloved hymn “I’ll Fly Away” continues in litigation. Albert Brumley, Sr., wrote this song in the late 1920’s, and it was published in 1932. It has been recorded by numerous artists, sold millions of records, and appears in numerous hymnals.  Before Mr. Brumley […]