Are you ready for your personal injury mediation? You will be if you address these seven issues in your mediation statement.
Liability
Is liability contested? What are the facts of the case and how did the accident happen? Is there a police report, an incident report, or photographs?
Timothy A. Hawley, Marquette 1988, is a shareholder with One Law Group, SC, De Pere. He has extensive civil litigation experience in a variety of areas on both the plaintiff and defense sides.
Whether the case involves a premises liability, an auto accident or a dog bite, they all may have issues regarding liability. Outline your position and determine whether liability will be contested for mediation purposes.
Damages
What are the medical bills? Have they been paid? By whom? Are there any out of pocket expenses? Are there any outstanding balances? Are the medical bills related? Is there a permanency claim? Is there any wage loss? Is there a loss of consortium claim? Is there a punitive damage claim?
Insurance
Does the defendant(s) have liability insurance? Is this an uninsured or underinsured motorist situation? Is there more than one insurer? Is there medical payments coverage? Does it apply regardless of fault? What are the limits? Is there an umbrella policy? Is insurance coverage contested? Is there a stay on the merits and a bifurcation to determine whether there is coverage or not?
Subrogation
Are there subrogation claims? Is it medical payments coverage or health insurance? Is it an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plan? What are the name and number of the attorney handling the subrogation claim? Have they been notified of the mediation, and do they have the information to make a decision regarding there subrogation claim?
Procedural Status of the Case
Is this a pre-suit mediation? Have depositions been taken? Have experts been named? Have their depositions been taken? What is the discovery cutoff? Are there any motions pending? Has there been an independent medical exam? When are the dates of the pretrial and trial? Is this a state or a federal case? What county? What judge? Have there been pre-mediation negotiations? If so, what are the party’s positions?
Mediation Materials
A mediation statement containing the above information, a medical records summary, damages summary, and deposition summaries should be sufficient to get started. However, bring your file – in case further details need to be discussed.
Authority
Make sure the people who make the ultimate decisions regarding the settlement of the case are present or available.
