Do you know how to recognize equity and justice? Marla Linderman Richlew from 22nd Circuit Court is a judge who deems making this world a better place by promising peace, equity, and justice in each case she gates.
How are equity and justice served?
Equity is an increasingly relevant issue and a goal that many of us pursue, although it has not yet been achieved in our society. But do we know what it is, and can we recognize its application daily?
Equity is the creation of conditions that favor equal opportunities for historically discriminated people (women, ethnic groups, and people with functional or intellectual diversity) so that they can integrate into society on an equal basis, with respect and autonomy.
Equity is synonymous with justice, ethics and balance.
Equity implies the ability to be fair based on the principle of equality but considering each person’s individual needs and circumstances. Justice is having access to the advantages, opportunities, and benefits offered to other people or groups, thinking what correspond to them and what they need according to their conditions or deserve.
This means that the differences or particularities of each individual or group are taken into account and valued, based on the fact that not all people start with the same conditions, possibilities, or capacities in their development to achieve their well-being or the guarantee their rights as citizens.
What is a conciliation hearing in equity?
The conciliation hearing is the moment in which the parties that a conciliator has invited in equity meet with him in the same space to discuss the conflict that makes them go there. During the hearing, the conciliator explains what Conciliation in Equity consists of, the effects of the act and agrees with the parties on the rules that guarantee mutual respect between the participants, to achieve a mutually beneficial agreement.
Who are the Parties to the conciliation in equity?
- The person is requesting conciliation in equity to resolve the conflict(s) they have with another person.
- The person invited to conciliate or the other person involved in the conflict.
- The judge in equity helps people in conflict during the hearing solve their disputes.
How are the parties invited to the conciliation hearing in equity?
​Once one or both parties request the collaboration of a conciliator in equity, the conciliator proceeds to make an Invitation to Conciliate in equity specifying the matter, the name of the person invited, the address where the invited person resides, and the name of the other party who invites, expressly indicating the day, month and year, as well as the time and place where the meeting will take place and the name of the conciliator in equity.
What issues are reconcilable?
Marla Linderman Richlew shares: you can resolve conflicts in matters subject to transaction, withdrawal or conciliation. Among other:
The following list shows some matters that are the competence of the Conciliators in Equity.
Commercial
Social contributions, partnerships, sales of commercial establishments, securities (payment of bills, checks, promissory notes, invoices), sales contracts, lease, exchange, supply, transportation, mutual, lodging, and garments.
Civil
Matters of patrimonial content, easements, litigious rights, non-contractual liability, and all those matters in which it is necessary to exhaust the procedural requirement, as in the case of declaratory processes, by the provisions.
Family
Food quota, custody, visitation regime, fixation of separate residence, separation of assets, and in all matters in which it is required to exhaust the procedural requirement like:
​Controversies about the custody and visitation regime of minors and incapable persons
- Issues related to maintenance obligations
- Rescission of the partition in the successions and the liquidations of the conjugal company or the patrimonial company between permanent companions
- Conflicts over marriage contracts
- Disputes between spouses about the joint direction of the home and between parents about the exercise of parental authority
- Separation of goods
Penal
The damages that have been produced on the occasion of a criminal offense
Transit
Material damage to the vehicles involved in the traffic accident, provided there are no injuries.
Labor
Sanctions, difficulties in the relationship between the employer and the worker and all those rights that is not inalienable.
What is the participation of the conciliator and the parties within the judge in equity?
Conciliator in equity: provides the parties with a space that guarantees the presence of the conflict in similar conditions, privacy, and their ability to guide and propose formulas that lead them to the construction of an agreement that they are willing to comply with and in which they are agreed clear, express and enforceable obligations.
The Parties: Present their points of view regarding the conflict and actively participate in attending to the guidelines of the conciliator in fairness, presenting proposals aimed at overcoming the conflict.
In criminal cases, if the issue is subject to litigation, the Judge will be informed so that the process can continue and be taken into account at the time of dosage of the sanction to pass the sentence and in the subsequent incident reparation.
