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Mediation in a Personal Injury Case

When you’ve been injured, in addition to your physical pain comes financial pain – medical bills keep piling up and you may be unable to work. This creates added stress for you and your loved ones on top of an already difficult situation. Ideally, shortly after your attorney contacts the opposing party with the claim, their insurance company will offer a fair settlement and pay it promptly. While this does happen in some cases, it doesn’t happen for everyone. In some situations, even after months of negotiations, the opposing party refuses to offer a reasonable settlement, leaving your attorney with no option but to file a lawsuit.  

A personal injury lawsuit can take years to come to trial, all the while you desperately need the money to pay your bills and day-to-day expenses. To help resolve the case more expediently, the courts require that that you attend a mediation with the opposing party before having a trial in court.

A mediation is when a neutral third party, called a mediator, meets with both parties and helps them resolve the dispute. Mediators are often retired judges or attorneys, so they are familiar with how a judge or jury may view the case when it is presented in court. In a mediation, each side presents their arguments and the mediator points out the strengths and weaknesses of each side’s cases. The mediator does not decide who wins the case, like a judge does. Instead, the mediator helps each side better understand each other’s perspective and work together to come to an agreement that they all can accept.

Your attorney will attend the mediation with you. They will coach you ahead of time whether you should speak or if they will speak on your behalf. During the mediation, you may be in the same room with the opposing party or you may be in separate rooms – each mediation is conducted differently depending on the case and the needs of the parties.

The mediation may be resolved in one session, but it’s more typical to take several sessions. Importantly, everything discussed during the mediation is confidential. This means that if you are not able to come to an agreement in mediation, the opposing side cannot use anything you said in the mediation against you in court. If you are able to come to an agreement, the mediator will write up the agreement as a contract, which is legally enforceable.

Mediation offers several benefits compared to a trial:

• Mediation is much faster than waiting for a court date.
• Having a mediator offer another viewpoint can help restart stalled negotiations.
• In mediation, both sides come to an agreement about the settlement, rather than a judge or jury making the decision that you have to abide by.

ECanter Lawyers has decades of experience with successfully representing personal injury clients in negotiations, mediation, and court. If you were inured due to someone else’s negligence, call us today to learn your rights for recovering compensation for your injuries.

 ECanter Lawyers

When you are dealing with the chaos and pain of accidents and personal injuries, the last thing you need is technical, confusing legal language.  ECanter Lawyers breaks down the complexities and provides clear, informative answers so that you understand your legal options. 

For a quarter of a century, ECanter Lawyers has remained committed to honest, straightforward answers.  Named one of AVVO’s Clients’ Choice, ECanter Lawyers has helped clients receive multi-million-dollar verdicts, and millions of dollars in settlements.  ECanter Lawyers specializes in personal injury, motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, premises and product liability, and healthcare law.

With offices conveniently located throughout South Florida and 24/7 services, ECanter Lawyers personal injury law firm offers you the personalized attention that you need in order to maximize your compensation.