Not every claim for personal injury goes to Trial. In fact, the vast majority of claims settle outside of court because of the increased cost to Defendant Insurers once the claim reaches Trial. Should they lose at Trial, the Defendant’s insurance company is likely to face a Costs Order to pay your costs of the claim as well as their own. As there is always a risk of losing at Trial to both sides (against which you are insured), Defendants can often be willing to try and resolve the claim outside of Court.
Sometimes, the Parties involved in a claim can agree to meet at a mediation to try to resolve the issues between them outside of Court.
Mediation is a completely confidential meeting outside of the Court proceedings and is less confrontational than the formal process of a Trial.
Mediation
One mediation where Oliver & Co were involved recently related to a high value personal injury claim where the Claimant had suffered fractured wrists after falling through a stairwell on a building site.
The Claimant was a self-employed carpenter and had been working for an agency which supplied labour for a large building contractor. The claim was against the building contractor for failing to keep the Claimant safe whilst on site. However the contractor argued that the agency was responsible for the Claimant’s safety. To complicate matters further, the Claimant himself had failed to comply with the standard method of using safety equipment when working at height and as such, both companies were arguing that he was partially to blame as well. Neither company was prepared to admit fault for the accident and the matter was heading towards an ever nearer Trial date.
Approximately 3 months before the Trial, the Parties agreed to attend a mediation to try to resolve their issues. Mediation can be held anywhere convenient to the Parties and in this case, we attended one of the Defendant’s Barrister’s chambers as it was most convenient.
The day was organised by a mediator who was there to try to find some common ground between the Parties and to see if there was any way that an agreement could be reached. After the initial introductions were over, each Party was allocated a separate room and the mediator visited each of them in order to get a feel for the problem areas in the case. Each Party could authorise him to pass information to another Party in the hope of narrowing the issues between them.
The mediator is not a Judge and despite having a legal background, his job is to stay completely impartial.
Our mediation was scheduled for 4 hours and was successful in reaching an agreement of £100,000.00 in compensation for the Claimant. The claim was dealt with by Oliver & Co on a ‘no win no fee’ basis and as such the Claimant received the full £100,000.00.
Although mediation can be an intense process on the day as the Parties are forced to try to resolve their issues within a certain timescale, it is certainly a worthwhile process. In the example above, the Claimant managed to settle his claim without having to attend a formal Trial at Court. A fantastic result for the Client which is, after all, what we are trying to achieve!
If you would like further information on making a claim for compensation on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, please complete our enquiry form and one of our solicitors will contact you. Alternatively please call us on: 01244 354664
