Vida Tarassoly, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., Esq.
Vida Tarassoly, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., Esq.
Mediator
Dr. Vida Tarassoly is one of the few Neutrals in the United States who is an attorney/registered
civil and structural engineer/and licensed contractor. She brings over 30 years of hands-on engineering
and construction experience, litigation, and dispute resolution of complex engineering and construction disputes.
She holds a Ph.D. in structural engineering from the University of Southern California. Because
of her highly technical background, she is uniquely qualified to provide evaluative mediation,
in which she simultaneously assesses the technical and legal strengths of the parties’ claims
and renders an expert opinion, to achieve reasonable settlements. Dr. Tarassoly is bicultural,
American-Middle Eastern, and fluent in Farsi.
PRACTICE AREAS
- Construction Defects
- Construction Contracts
- Delay Analysis
- Professional Liability
- Environmental Law
Conflict Resolution Experience
- Resolved a dispute among homeowners, Caltrans, and the City of Palo Alto over excessive noises due to after-hours City’s construction activities.
- Resolved dispute about foundation settlement between a homeowner and a developer in an SB800 claim for structural defects including foundation settlement.
- Resolved dispute between a disadvantaged business enterprise subcontractor, a hospital, and a design-build prime contractor in a multi-party dispute resolution.
- Resolved dispute between a contractor and multi-residential owner pertaining to schedule delays and construction defects of a soft-story seismic retrofit project.
- In collaboration with the Pepperdine Strauss institute for Dispute Resolution, mediated disputes between residents of a Malibu community and a mutual water company pertaining to installation of a new water supply line.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
- The University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
- Ph.D. 2004, Structural Engineering Dissertation subject: Application of viscous dampers to structures within near-fault zones
- M.S., 1983, Civil Engineering Master’s thesis: Development of plane strain and stress models for finite element analysis programs
- B.S., 1980, Civil Engineering Magna Cum Laude
-
Pacific Coast University, School of Law,
Long Beach, California
J.D., 2014 -
American Arbitration Association
Mediation Training, 2012 -
Orange County Human Relations
Mediation Training, 2010
Organizations & Achievements
- Caltrans Dispute Resolution Panel
- Orange County Bar Association, Structural Engineers Association of Southern California
- Dispute Resolution Foundation
Dr. Tarassoly is available throughout California, nationally, and internationally.
