Gilbert Mediation Center, Ltd. - Eden Prairie, MN

In administering an arbitration in April 2021, Gilbert Mediation committed violations of the arbitration agreement itself as well as MN Statutes 504B governing Landlord and Tenant rules, Minn. Stat. ? 572.08 et seq. (?Uniform Arbitration Act?), Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct and the Minnesota Code of Judicial Conduct. The arbitration was mandated by the signed lease agreement with a tenant in my home in Minnetonka, MN. The tenant had violated 28 stipulations in the lease as well as several HOA rules included in the lease. The violations included damage to the property in addition to the destruction of nearly 15 years of intellectual property by violating the lease and deleting my Comcast account of 20+ years on the property. The Judge?s order contains numerous mistakes of the facts, mistakes of law, disregard for the law and a financial award that disregards the documents and testimony provided in the hearing. Arbitration Agreement Violations The signed agreement with Gilbert Mediation states, ?E-mail submissions to the arbitrator are acceptable.? In violation of this clause, Judge Gary Meyer demanded I supply all of my documents in print format. He claimed he had trouble opening digital documents. This was confirmed when he couldn?t open a PDF I had sent to him. As a result of the Judge?s lack of ability to comply with the arbitration agreement, I was mandated to spend a significant amount of time and money re-formatting and trying to print nearly 250 documents and images. The documents included many email chains containing a dozen or more conversations, all of which had to be broken down into individual documents and printed. The arbitration agreement with Gilbert Mediation stipulates that ?there shall be no ex-parte communication by any of the parties with the arbitrator.? Our hearings were conducted via Zoom. Upon arrival to our pre-trial Zoom meeting, I found my tenant and Judge Meyer engaged in a conversation. There had been no waiting room implemented by Gilbert. Upon further investigation into the retired Judge, I learned that he had previously been suspended from practicing law for 30 days by the MN Supreme Court for having forged a deceased client?s signature. I was now questioning the Judge?s ability to conduct a fair and impartial hearing, which I communicated to the company?s owner. The company decided to send a copy of my request for a new arbitrator to the Judge himself. The company refused to provide me with a different arbitrator. As such, my ability to have a fair and impartial hearing was compromised before it even began. Rule 5.8 of The Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct states: (b) A lawyer shall not employ, associate professionally with, or aid a person the lawyer knows or reasonably should know has been disbarred, suspended, or ? I attempted to discuss this with the company owner, Attorney Jim Gilbert who had employed Judge Meyer, but he refused to answer my emails or phone call. MN Statutes 504B. Landlord and Tenant Rules Disregarded by Judge Meyer The arbitration agreement states ?The arbitration is governed by the arbitration agreement between the parties and applicable statutes, rules, and laws.? Judge Meyer completely ignored numerous MN Statutes in the writing of his very partial order. Statutes ignored include: 504B.125 PERSON IN POSSESSION LIABLE FOR RENT 504B.135 TERMINATING TENANCY AT WILL 504B.147 TIME PERIOD FOR NOTICE TO QUIT OR RENT INCREASE 504B.155 TENANT MUST GIVE COLD WEATHER NOTICE BEFORE VACATION OF BUILDING. 504B.161 COVENANTS OF LANDLORD OR LICENSOR. 504B.165 UNLAWFUL DESTRUCTION 504B.177 LATE FEES 504B.291 EVICTION ACTION FOR NONPAYMENT 216A.037 EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS There are additional violations of Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct and the Minnesota Code of Judicial Conduct, but the character limit here prohibits me from including them. In short, it you want a fair arbitration, I do not recommend you use Gilbert Mediation.