Mediation puts the control for the outcome of your court case in your hands. You get to decide the result you want and then we work to obtain that result or some compromise that you can live with. Having control in what the court will decide in your case will never happen again except in mediation.
Mediation also provides an end to the costs of attorney’s fees and costs. If you are paying for the litigation directly to your attorney, then you know how costly litigation can get through discovery and all the motions that can be filed. If you are on a contingency, you should be concerned about how much the insurance company is paying their attorney because that money could go to settle your case.
Mediation stops the costs of litigation and uses the savings to settle the case. Mediation gives you certainty. Your result of your case will be known at the conclusion of a successful mediation. Those are two of the primary benefits of mediation.
What if we go to trial?
If you go to trial, the judge or the jury will decide the result in your case. There is no doubt that the result will happen. The problem is that you don’t know when the result will happen, nor do you know what the result will be. You see a civil trial date is subject to change based on the court’s schedule. So even if you have a trial date, that date can be subject to change by days, weeks, or months with no notice. This means that you need to prepare for trial multiple times. Once the court hears the case, if it is a jury, then the result will occur at the end of the trial. However, if the case is decided by a judge, sometimes the result is not decided for days, weeks, or months. The timing of the decision depends on the court’s schedule. So if you go to trial, a decision about your case will be made, however, you never know what a judge or a jury is going to decide. Also, the uncertainty of the timing of any trial or decision can be agonizing if delays occur.
Cost of mediation/versus trial
A full day of mediation costs a few thousand dollars and that amount is typically split between all the parties to the litigation. The cost is equal to a few phone calls with your lawyer. Litigation costs however can escalate without warning. In litigation you can’t control the cost because first the court rules require certain things to be done by a certain time. Also, opposing counsel can take actions that necessitate your attorney to respond. Neither you nor your attorney have the control to limit your costs in litigation. In mediation, you have the control to settle the case and end the litigation which ends the mediation. There is no comparison between the costs of mediation and the costs of trial.
I don’t want to settle!
You have been wronged. I get it, you don’t want to settle with the other side that you feel is completely wrong. However, who are you hurting by letting the litigation linger? Them? No. you are only hurting yourself by having an emotional or mental block to resolving the case. When we mediate your case, we work to get you past the roadblocks toward settlement. We work to turn that “I don’t want to settle” into your choice to settle.
My opponent will never settle.
You may have preconceived notions that your opponent is stubborn and won’t settle. You may be right. But remember, we work with both sides to get past the roadblocks that are stopping a settlement. Many times when you are working with a neutral mediator, it can break down the barriers toward a resolution that have existed since the dispute arose.