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Personal injury lawyers often turn to mediation if negotiations have stalled. That session with a mediator can serve as an alternate method for achieving dispute resolution.
Principle features of mediation
• Both parties meet with a neutral party, a mediator.
• Both parties should request the session with a mediator.
• Nothing said by either party can be used at a later stage of the lawsuit process.
The mediator’s role
Mediators do not make any decisions nor share their opinions.The mediator’s encouragement is supposed to push each side to change its position.
The mediator’s job calls for the gathering of information, by listening to both parties. Yet the mediator must keep the source of any information a secret. In other words, any facts shared by either party with the listener/mediator are offered in confidence.
Typical approach to the type of alternate dispute resolution that relies on mediators’ guidance
Each side speaks to a pair of neutral listening ears, while in the presence of those representing the other side. Each side speaks directly to the opposing side, under guidance of 3rd party/mediator.
Personal Injury Lawyer in Barrie knows that each side speaks directly, and in private with same mediator. Facts gathered by listener/mediator become tools used by that same set of ears. Ideally, those same tools allow creation of an agreement, one that has managed to please all concerned.
Advantages
The adjuster and the claimant have a face-to-face meeting, instead of talking over the phone. Hence, the claimant’s demands no longer come from an unknown source. Consequently, adjusters often feel inclined to go along with a proposed agreement.
Mediators’ skills facilitate the creation of a desire by both sides to end the existing deadlock. At the same time, mediators’ own desire for satisfaction drives them to work hard on getting each party to appreciate the demands that have come from the opposing party.
The entire session seldom takes more than a reasonable amount of a single day. Yet, in that short space of time, a great deal might be accomplished. Typically, no one leaves the session disappointed.
Drawbacks to ending a stalemate by relying on a mediated form of dispute resolution
If both parties have chosen to be guided by someone that has received professional training, then both must be ready to cover the expense created by their decision. On the other hand, if both sides hope to cut costs, that hope might not be realized. It could prove challenging to find someone that does not charge a high fee for guiding creation of a mediated solution.
The adjuster might not agree to attend the scheduled session. Adjusters tend to devote the bulk of their time to the task of carrying out many different phone conversations.