Personal Injury Mediation

Ed Van Dorn

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

In the past ten years or so there has been significant movement in the law to encourage alternate dispute resolution, largely refered to by the acronym ADR. This means that the law is encouraging legal claims to be settled before reaching the court room. This is generally a good thing especially in personal inury cases. By personal injury cases I mean automobile accidents, industrial accidents, medical malpractice, product liability, dog bites and all other cases where someone is seriously injured by the negligent or wrongful conduct of another.

The prevailing ADR method employed in most personal injury cases is mediation. This is where the parties to the personal injury dispute gather together in the presence of a neutral third party called the mediator and present their sides of the story and explain their respective positions on settlement. Then the mediator's job is to breach the inevitable gap between the settlement postions so the case may be resolved. The key motivation that brings the parties to the mediation table in a personal injury case is the unknown risk of what a jury might do if the case is decided in the courtroom. This is a central reason why it is so important that we preserve the right to trial by jury for civil claims, especially personal injury cases. Without the fear of an unfavorable jury verdict there is much less motivation on the part of the insurance companies that are involved in the vast majority of personal injury cases to pay fair settlements in mediation. This is also why its so important to be represented by a lawyer or law firm with the experience, track record, and reputation for success with jury trials and favorable jury verdicts. The lawyers without the track record and reputation in the court room where it counts simply don't have the same leverage at the mediation table to force the insurance carrier to pay top dollar settlements. If you or a loved one is seriously injured one of the most important decisions you may ever make is to hire the right personal injury law firm for your claim.