The situation in Case 1. 1 with Dana and the Klimes seems like a simple misunderstand ing. However, each party is seeing only a limited picture of reality. In each person’s view, the other is acting inappropriately. Dana has legal rights to protection from harassment fro~ h~r neighbors and their dog. She has the right to involve the police and to press for J~St~ce. When the cas~ appeared in court, the judge referred them to the community mediation program. The Judge wanted to see whether these neighbors could resolve the issues together before assigning time in her already overloaded court calendar. In short, the parties in this case were ordered to mediation to work out their dispute, if possible. The judge also believed that the parties’ interests would be served best in a place where they could explore not only the legal aspects of the case but also the issues surrounding how they experienced the event. In court, only the legal issues would be resolved and a neighborhood could be left in turmoil.
WHAT ISSUES in Case 1.1 fall outside the scope of the legal system? What would happen to these issues if the neighborhood misunderstanding case were to be settled in court?