Paul E. Galter, BUTLER, GALTER & O'BRIEN BUTLER, GALTER & O'BRIEN Mediation, Legal Services Lincoln Nebraska

I am writing this complaint against a former mediator in my child custody case. The mediator is Paul E. Gaiter. Mr. Gaiter served as the mediator in my paternity/child custody case in Lincoln, NE. We conducted a mediation, Mr. Galter charged me a lot of money and I paid him.

On several occasions after the mediation concluded, despite being the mediator, Mr. Gaiter has interjected himself as the attorney for my ex-fiance' including filing two (2) one million dollar lawsuits against me, and serving me with them when I arrived in Nebraska after traveling all night from Florida to be there to pick up my child. Instead I got a lawsuit served on me and no child. Mr. Galter, I believe, planned this with my ex-fiance' to inflict as much emotional pain on both my child and me.

My lawyer got that lawsuit removed to federal court and then it was dismissed before anything happened. A couple months later, as I was sitting in the court house during a custody hearing, Mr. Galter had me served with an identical lawsuit for a million dollars, right there in the middle of it all. He sat and watched while I got served and then when confronted by my trial lawyer, you could see the guilt in his eyes. But he insisted. My lawyer again got it removed to federal court and tried to disqualify Mr. Galter. Though he was allowed to stay in the case momentarily, Galter dismissed the second lawsuit when it became clear he was a witness in the case, too!

On Friday June 5, 2015 I received a new lawsuit from Mr. Gaiter and was served with it in Florida where I live, again representing my ex-fiance' who now wanted to severely terminate my child custody and visitation rights, where he again has intervened on behalf of my ex-fiance' against me in the child custody matter.

First of all, I will never use this creep as a mediator or for any services whatsoever, including snake-catching! My advice is stay away from these kind of people. They are poison.

Second, I will never use a mediator again and will especially refuse to use a mediator in any matter in Nebraska, specifically because of Mr. Gaiter's misconduct.

The court rules and the statutes provide that Mr. Gaiter should not be doing what he is doing, and I now know what I had suspected all along that Mr. Gaiter was never a neutral, and that he failed to disclose his close, likely personal relationship with my ex-fiance' during the mediation process. I had suspected but now know that all along he always was representing her interests and therefore was not neutral or evenhanded and as I said, a creep.

I have no faith in the system, because Mr. Gaiter is permitted to do what he is doing, for personal profit and to the advantage of my ex fiance'. Galter has done everything he could do so she could to keep my child away from me. Mr. Galter says he's a big-shot family law expert in Nebraska. Well he should've known better than to act as a mediator and represent one party against another. He only pulls out when he gets caught, hoping no one will notice or object to his conduct.

The Nebraska "Parenting Act" provides: "No mediator who is also a licensed attorney may, after completion of the mediation process, represent either party in the role of attorney in the same matter through subsequent legal proceedings." Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-2939(3).

The rules regulating the Nebraska Bar to which Mr. Galter is admitted states: "Except as stated in paragraph (d), a lawyer shall not represent anyone in connection with a matter in which the lawyer participated personally and substantially as a judge or other adjudicative officer or a law clerk to such person or as an arbitrator, mediator or other third-party neutral, unless all parties to the proceeding give informed consent, confirmed in writing." Nebraska R. Prof. Cond. § 3-502.12.

This man has no shame and will never actually apologize for putting it to you. You will only get lame excuses for his misconduct. DO NOT USE HIM AS A MEDIATOR!