How Personal Injury Mediation Can Benefit Both Parties
A personal injury lawsuit can take a great deal of time: months and sometimes even years. Mediation is one potential solution to a quicker, easier, and much less expensive resolution to your conflict.
As a mediator in Dallas, I feel that it’s important for those involved in a personal injury lawsuit to understand the process, as well as why it can be a good option to resolving your case outside of the court system.
Mediation: What to Expect
While mediation may be an unfamiliar term to many laypersons, the truth is that many personal injury lawsuits go through the mediation process. In fact, many courts require the parties to attempt to resolve their conflict through mediation before the case is tried before a judge and/or jury.
Here are some things you should expect to encounter during the mediation process:
- Don’t be surprised to receive offers you feel are too low. This may cause you to have second thoughts and consider cutting the negotiations short, but this is the way the process works: your side starts out high, the other side starts out low. This leaves room for negotiation.
- In all likelihood, you will hear some legal terms with which you are not familiar. When you hear any terms you don’t understand, ask your lawyer for clarification. This is your case, and you should feel comfortable asking questions during the process.
- Be prepared for the mediation process to take some time. It could take just a few hours or it could take multiple sessions for you and the other party to reach an agreement.
- Be prepared to compromise in order to reach a settlement. Mediation is a method to find a solution. You cannot accomplish that unless you are willing to make some concessions.
- At the end of mediation, there are two possible outcomes
- The parties reached an agreement and that agreement is reported to the court, or;
- The parties were unable to reach a mutually agreeable settlement, and the court is notified of such.
Mediation vs. Arbitration
Both arbitration and mediation are alternatives to going before a judge in a traditional litigation process, and are sometimes used along with litigation as a tool to help the parties come to a mutual agreement. Both processes engage the use of a neutral third party during the process. Both processes can be legally binding though it is common practice to use mediation as non-binding and arbitration as binding.
The process of arbitration is conducted by a panel of arbitrators who perform similar to a judge. Even though there is sometimes only one arbitrator, it is more common for each party to the lawsuit to select an arbitrator. Those two arbitrators then select a third arbitrator before the parties present the case to the panel. The final decision is determined by a majority ruling.
Mediation usually only includes one mediator. The mediator does not judge the case but rather helps the parties work together to reach a mutually agreeable resolution.
Mediation in Dallas
If you’re looking for an experienced mediator in Dallas, give me a call. I will work tirelessly with both parties and their individual lawyers in an attempt to resolve the dispute even if previous mediation attempts have failed. My goal is to avoid the time-consuming and costly process of litigation in order to facilitate a quick and just solution to resolution.
For more information, visit http://www.dallasmediationlawyer.com/.
Category: Lawyer's Advice
