What is a mediation? Mediation is an opportunity for the plaintiff and the defense in any case to come together and reach a settlement agreement prior to trial. Mediations can happen before lawsuit is filed even or more commonly they happen after a lawsuit is filed. It’s not in a court room and it’s not formal like a courtroom setting.
So, what happens at a mediation as the attorneys from both sides will go along with the plaintiff in the case and sometimes the defendant or the insurance carrier, more commonly, on the other side. They’ll meet in a room similar to this and the attorneys will give a summary of their case and what they think they’re going to be able to show to a jury to the other side. Once this is done, the parties all break up into different rooms. And I would go with our client. I would go with you in to our own private room. And the mediator who’s a neutral party, he’s not on either side, he would go back and forth between the rooms delivering messages, delivering offers and counter offers.
Usually, mediation is scheduled for a half a day, if it’s a more complex case it might be scheduled for a full day. And the goal is to get those offers closer together. So, by the end of the day you’re in a place where you can agree on a specific amount. All the mediations I’ve done I’d say there’s about a 50% success rate to settling a case at mediation and even when you don’t settle a case at mediation, usually a progress is made. So, you understand the other side a little bit better and they understand your case a little bit better and some of the strong points about your case as well.
We have in this office combined I think over 40 years of experience and over that time we’ve done hundreds of mediations and it’s one thing that we over the years have been very effective at figuring out how the insurance companies think what they value and getting the maximum value for your case
If you have any questions about mediations or anything else, feel free to give us a call at 941-371-8800. Again, my name is Zachary Cole and you can reach me directly at Z.COLE@Probinskylaw.com. Thank you.
If you have legal questions and your matter happened here in Florida and you’re thinking about bringing a lawsuit, I invite you to pick up the phone and call me at (844) 335-4667. This is what we do every day and I’d be happy to chat with you.
