More About Personal Injury Mediations

I recently attended a training for mediators who handle personal injury mediations. Often personal injury mediations are multi-party proceedings involving counsel for an injured plaintiff and for as many defendants as have been named in the complaint or in third-party pleadings. Unlike other mediations, the plaintiff is often not in attendance at the actual mediation in personal injury cases. This is by design, so that the attorneys can get real about how much money it’s going to take to settle the case without confusing the plaintiff about the value of her case or about who is ultimately going to pay her and how much.  Again, unlike other types of mediations, a claims adjuster from the insurance company(ies) may actually be in attendance at the mediation or reachable by phone as the process unfolds.  These types of multi-party mediations raise challenges for the mediator that don’t exist where there are just two parties at the table. Organization becomes key in getting the process launched and keeping it on track. In brief, the mediator is going to want to be fully apprised of what issues are in dispute and what are the obstacles to settlement from the perspective of each of the parties, as a foundation for mapping out the stages of the process and possible paths forward.