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Your personal injury claim has progressed to the mediation stage which your personal injury lawyer in Toronto and you have prepared for it diligently. Everyone that is involved will be in attendance, most likely positioned around a large conference table. The mediator opens the session and once he has provided his credentials and explains why he is qualified to be the mediator in your case, the real work begins.
After the opening statement, which he will most likely direct at you, you should expect a discussion revolving around the following 6 key elements of your session:
- Closure – it will take about 30 days from the time you mediate a settlement until you actually receive your award. This does depend on whether or not there are medical liens that need to be resolved. Unfortunately, if you cannot settle in mediations, it could take years to settle your claim in a trial.
Compromise – this is required on both sides if either party has any intention of agreeing to a settlement. It’s impossible for the plaintiff or defendant to get everything exactly the way they would if there case went into the courtroom. The hope is to settle somewhere in between your “best day and worst day” in court. The goal is to see both sides agree on a satisfactory settlement.
Confidentiality – everything is confidential and nothing can be used in a court trial in Toronto. But as a general rule of thumb, mediation statements cannot be used against you in a trial. However, the information that those statements contain can be. This does not preclude what a defense attorney chooses to do outside of court and mediations. He may find people who attended the session and get the information he is looking for then.
Impartiality – mediators are prohibited from taking sides in a mediation session. So they cannot give the plaintiff or defendant any legal advice unlike your personal injury lawyer in Toronto and the defendant’s lawyer. Additionally, the mediator is not there for the purpose of determining a loser or a winner. He or she is there to facilitate specific communication between the plaintiff and defendant as well as reaching a settlement.
Risk factors – in mediation sessions, each side is allowed to examine those risk factors that could have an impact on your claim. This is the only time that both lawyers will have a chance to identify those risks that each side could be facing during the course of the session.
The benefit of mediation over a jury trial is that you can control the outcome of your claim and case. If it goes into the courtroom, the jury controls it. The bottom line is that even in the best case scenario, a trial by jury yields an uncertain outcome. That is why it is essential that out of court settlements finalizes and you get the compensation amount faster.