Tim Rayne

Pennsylvania Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyer

Tim Rayne

Pennsylvania Car Accident & Personal Injury Lawyer

Mediation

Mediation Nets Client Nearly $1 Million in Chester County Car Accident Case

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This week I was fortunate enough to be able to settle a Chester County Car Accident Personal Injury case for nearly $1 million using a process called Mediation.

My client was thrilled because we got a fair settlement through a relatively informal negotiation process which took place over Zoom rather than having to wait 6 months to go through extensive trial preparation and the stress of what would have been a four day Chester County jury trial.

In my experience, both Personal Injury Plaintiffs and insurance companies can benefit by attempting to settle Car Accident cases through Mediation rather than going straight to a jury trial.

The Mediation Process

Mediation is a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution where the parties agree to hire a third party neutral person, like an experienced lawyer or a retired judge, to review the case and try to broker a settlement between the parties.

The Mediator is almost always paid half by the Plaintiff and half by the Defense to ensure neutrality. The Mediator reviews documents provided by both parties in advance of a day of Mediation to learn about the facts of the case and the claims of each party. Sometimes the submissions are confidential and sometimes they are not.

Then, on the day of the Mediation, the parties and their lawyers meet either in person or virtually through Zoom and the Mediator goes back-and-forth between the two sides discussing the relative strengths and weaknesses of each side’s case and eventually engaging in back-and-forth negotiation to try to broker a resolution.

Usually the Mediator does not put a value on the case but, instead, tries to work with both parties to arrive at a mutually agreed-upon negotiated settlement.

What are the benefits of Mediation?

Mediation has many benefits compared to a traditional Jury Trial:

  • Quicker resolution compared to waiting for a jury trial
  • Having an independent third-party helping value the case
  • Less expensive – saving on expert witness testimony Costs and Attorney time
  • Less stress on the client compared to a jury trial – quicker process and less prep time
  • Control over the resolution as opposed to the crapshoot nature of a jury verdict

The bottom line is that Mediations are not always successful in resolving Personal Injury cases.

In some cases, the parties just will never agree on the fair value of the case and it will be necessary to try the case and have the jury render a verdict.

However, in my experience, it’s usually worth trying to resolve the case amicably through Mediation rather than immediately running to the courthouse for a Jury Trial.

Lawyers love trials, clients don’t. In the end, a Personal Injury Cases are about our clients so we, as Personal Injury Lawyers, should do what’s best for our clients.

Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Personal Injury and Car Accident Lawyer with Offices in Kennett Square and West Chester.  For over 25 years, Tim has been helping injured accident victims understand their legal rights and receive fair treatment from insurance companies.  For many years, Tim has been named a Top 100 Lawyer by Super Lawyers in Pennsylvania and has also been honored by Best Lawyers and Main Line Today Magazine.  You can contact Tim Rayne at 6108400124 or trayne@macelree.com or check out his website at www.TimRayneLaw.com.  

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What is Mediation?

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Mediation is a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution, which means another way of resolving a legal controversy, like a Personal Injury Case, without negotiating a direct settlement with the other side or having a Jury Trial in Court.

In Mediation, the parties agree to use a neutral person, usually a senior or retired litigation attorney or Judge, to evaluate a case and try to help the parties reach a voluntary negotiated resolution.  Nobody is forced to settle and the either party can end the Mediation process at any time.  The Mediator’s job is not to decide the case, but instead to help bring the parties to a negotiated settlement agreement.

The Mediation Process

The following is the usual step-by-step Process:

  • Pick a Mediator –  The parties need to choose someone who they both trust and respect.
  • Educate the Mediator – Each party submits detailed descriptions of the case to the Mediator including  documents and evidence that are important to the case.
  • Attend the Mediation – The Mediation itself is usually a day or half-day and takes place at the Mediator’s office, one of the lawyers’ offices or some other neutral location.  The lawyers and clients are present and, in a Personal Injury case, a representative of the insurance company is either present or available by phone with authority to negotiate a settlement.
  • Joint Session –  The Mediation begins with a Joint Session where the Mediator explains the Process.  Often during the session, the lawyers will give Opening Remarks about the case.
  • Separate Sessions – After the Joint Session, the parties are sent to separate rooms and the Mediator travels between the two rooms discussing the merits of the case and working on negotiating a settlement.
  • Mediation Ending – A Mediation ends one of two ways, with a settlement or with one or both sides deciding that there cannot be a resolution.
  • After the Mediation –  It’s common for the Mediator to stay involved in unsettled cases after the date of the Mediation and to continue to work with the lawyers to attempt to guide them to a resolution.

The Benefits of Mediation

  • Saves time, stress and expense – Mediation can save litigation time, stress and expense.  It provides the opportunity to try to settle the case before the parties spend the time, effort, emotion and expense of trying the case in court.
  • Mediation is a Final Resolution – Mediation ends the case.  It avoids the delay involved in trial and eliminates the possibility of an appeal because it’s a final resolution.
  • Get insight and opinions of an experienced expert – At the Mediation you will get the opinions and insight of the Mediator who is an experienced and wise lawyer.  The Mediator can evaluate the probability of each side winning the case as well as the fair value of the case.  Although both parties must be aware that the Mediator’s job is to settle the case so he/she is always working towards that end, the Mediator often provides valuable feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the case.  This can help to settle the case or help us make the case stronger if it has to be taken to trial.

If your Personal Injury case cannot be settled directly with the defense, it is often advisable to consider Mediation before taking a case to trial.  Unless it is clear that the case has a very low probability of settling, the benefits of Mediation are usually worth the time, effort and cost.

Tim Rayne is a Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer with the law firm MacElree Harvey.  For 25 years, Tim has been helping injured victims of accidents receive fair compensation from insurance companies.  Tim handles a wide range of cases including car accidents, slip and fall accidents and medical malpractice claims.  Tim has offices in Kennett Square and West Chester Pennsylvania.  Contact Tim for a Free Consultation at 6108400124 or trayne@macelree.com.

 

Using Mediation to Settle a Personal Injury Case

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Mediation is a tool that’s often used in personal injury cases to try to settle a case before trial. The concept of mediation is that the parties, rather than take the case to trial in front of jury which involves risks to both sides, instead of that, they agree to attempt to settle the case by using a mediator.

Mediators usually are a retired judge or a very experienced attorney who has knowledge with regard to these types of cases. The mediator, for a fee, agrees to meet with the parties, analyze the case, and attempt to bring them together to reach a resolution. Typically the process involves a half day or a day with the mediator in which the parties come with their clients in order to attempt to settle the case.

Typically mediation will start off with a joint session where the mediator explains how the session will work, how the mediation will work, and how the parties through their attorneys get to present their case.

After that, what usually happens is that the mediator will split the parties up sending one party to one room, one party to another room, and the mediator will go back and forth between the two rooms discussing the merits of their of their case and attempting to get the parties together to a resolution.

This involves compromise on both sides. The plaintiff has to be willing to compromise in order to get the case settled, as does the defendant. If the mediation is successful, the case will end there. The parties will resolve their case without having to go to court.

However, it’s important to understand that it’s a voluntary process. No settlement is going to be reached unless both sides voluntarily agree to it. If no settlement is reached, then the case has to go to court. But mediation is often an effective tool in order to resolve cases and avoid the risk of going to trial.