If you have been involved in a civil lawsuit due to a negligent party injuring or harming your life or are considering finding representation, you might be aware that the legal and trial process can be extremely taxing and stressful. While everyone deserves to argue and fight for compensation as a victim, a very small percentage of cases actually end up before a judge or jury. While your attorneys will be ready and willing to fight till the bitter end to get you what you deserve, other options are often explored before a case is finalized and heard before a judge. One of these options is mediation or arbitration between the two parties.
Basics of Mediation and Arbitration
Without a formal discussion process, correspondence between lawyers representing both parties of a case is often enough to come to an agreement before actually going to trial or seeing a judge. Because of this, when a judge does finally have a case in front of them, they might call for a mediation or arbitration between the two parties in hopes that further discussions will find an agreement, which commonly happens. This frees up time for more cases and allows both the defendant and plaintiff to put the situation behind them faster.
Mediation and arbitration are similar but have important differences.
Mediation – A judge will often call for mediation when a breakdown in communication or hostility between the two parties has prevented good-faith discussions from taking place. A mediator will be appointed whose sole job is to help bring the parties together in talks in a civil manner. Mediators will listen to both sides of the story and use their expertise and experience to speed up the process and determine what each side deems fair. While mediators do not have any authority to make decisions regarding the case and its outcomes, they can help steer the discussions in the right direction. For example, if one side is being unreasonable in their demands and refuses to capitulate, the mediator can make a note of this and pass it along to the judge for reference. Mediation is often necessary between individuals with a personal relationship clouding judgment and reason. Mediators aim to get at the facts and help each side present their demands and wants calmly and rationally.
Arbitration – Arbitration is generally considered more serious than mediation, as the decision made by the arbitrator can have legal weight behind it. Arbitrations are usually conducted by retired judges or other respected members of the legal field, like experienced lawyers. While mediation has the ultimate goal of increasing communication between two parties, arbitration seeks to find a solution and ruling that will favor one side or the other. In this way, an arbitrator is not working on behalf of both parties but is providing a service that will ultimately put the issue between them to rest. Arbitration is a preferable option for those who do not wish to endure a long and public court process, yet the case has a level of complexity that requires more than mediation.
Not all cases require time before a judge, and the stress and financial hardship you can incur during the meantime means that arbitration or mediation is often preferable for both sides of the lawsuit. If you want to pursue a personal injury case but prefer to avoid a lengthy trial, ask your personal injury attorney if mediation or arbitration is right for you.
Call the law offices of Probinsky & Cole today if you want more information about a possible personal injury, medical malpractice, and product liability lawsuit. We have decades of experience and offices in Bradenton, Sarasota, and Brandon, Florida.
