The legal system does not assume that the creator of a personal injury claim and the financial institution that is expected to cover such a claim will always agree. Sometimes those two parties find that their negotiations have stalled. For that reason, stalled negotiations can highlight the need for an alternate procedure. In some places, mediation becomes the next available procedure.
Basic aspects of mediation process
Three parties sit at a table: the opposing parties and the mediator. Mediation is not tried unless it has been requested by both parties. Nothing that gets said goes on the record; the comments made by any of those present cannot be used in a different situation, such as at a court trial.
The mediator must be paid; both sides contribute to the costs that are connected to the mediation procedure. A designated individual (the mediator) shapes the structure of the negotiating process. Still, that process must entail include a series of meetings.
There should be one meeting at which a representative from each party gets to talk to the mediator; a representative from the other party should be at that same meeting. During a second meeting, the representatives from the two parties speak to each other in the mediator’s presence. During a third meeting, someone from one side (party) speaks separately to someone from the other side, at a time when the opposing party cannot hear or react to what has been said.
How mediation provides advantages to the negotiating process
When the adjuster talks to a policy holder on the phone, he or she cannot see that face of the person that has filed the personal injury claim. That aspect of the negotiating process disappears, after mediation has begun. Then the adjuster must realize that the person with a claim has a human face.
Once the settlement phase moves from over-the-phone negotiations to mediation, the adjuster needs to pay more attention to the file of the person that has made the personal injury claim. The mediator will expect the adjuster’s help and cooperation. Until the mediator has entered the scene, the adjuster can just make a low offer and not respond to any calls. The mediator’s presence removes the adjuster’s ability to stick with that same strategy. The mediator encourages those steps that will bring an end to the deadlock. At the same time, both sides must realize that any delay tactic will result in an increase in the size of the mediator’s bill.
Problems introduced by mediation
The initiation of that process means that both sides become obligated to cover an additional expense. If the mediation proves unsuccessful, both sides will have to pay for something that became useless. Regardless of the associated costs, it can become difficult to get both sides to agree to utilization of a mediator. Sometimes, adjusters try to cling to their possession of a victim’s claim. It is important to discuss the case with a personal injury lawyer in Georgetown so that the victim gets justice.