reached in mediation. Trial involves a higher degree of uncertainty for both sides, however, so it is always preferable to settle in mediation if the numbers are right. Mediation provides certainty and risk control that you cannot get in a trial when you must depend on a jury of 12 strangers. After the case is fully prepared for mediation, we always prepare our clients’ expectations. Mediation is a process that may take an entire day and sometimes is concluded by the mediator after the mediation session ends. The opposing parties are moved into separate rooms, and the mediator talks to each side independently and confidentially. The client usually does not talk to
The opposing parties may start negotiations very far apart, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to settle. It’s a long day with a lot of back and forth, but we always remind our clients not to get discouraged when they hear the opposition’s initial low numbers because the starting number is never the ending number. Each side generally makes high demands or low offers to start so that they have room to negotiate. When all is said and done, we help our clients in mediation to consider all factors so our clients can make the best choice for their circumstances and can feel good that they got the best offer for their case. – Renée Nordstrand
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spend on taking a case to court and leaving the decision in a jury’s hands.
Preparation and strategy are key, but having 30 years of experience helps our cases, too. Much of the value of a case is dependent upon who the trial lawyer is. That is because insurance companies consider who their adversaries are when determining case value. With an experienced trial lawyer on a case, the insurance company assigns a higher value than they do with a lawyer who doesn’t try cases or have expert knowledge. We are a firm that doesn’t settle for less than full value, and we aren’t afraid to go to court to achieve it. Insurance companies and opposing counsel know we’ll take them to litigation and to trial if a reasonable settlement isn’t
the opposing side, only to their own lawyer and the mediator.
HOLDINGRESPONSIBLE PARTIES ACCOUNTABLE
Personal injuries can result from any number of scenarios, and we’ve seen them all. Mediation is a practice that can be a useful tool to resolve nearly any type of injury case, and we strive to use it to its fullest potential. We had a client who was injured by a defective chair in an establishment. The chair collapsed when they sat in it, causing multiple injuries. Through the litigation process, we determined that more than 50 such chairs at the same establishment had broken before our client was injured, yet the owner had taken no steps to replace them. When one broke, they simply replaced it with the same type of chair. We sued the owner, the retailer, and the distributor of the chairs. We got all parties to agree to participate in a mediation to attempt to settle the case. Initially, all three defendants made an initial joint offer of $120,000 to our client, which was not nearly enough to cover the pain and suffering they experienced. The mediator worked with the defendants to isolate the most culpable party by getting the parties to settle with the less culpable parties. Ultimately, by singling out the most responsible defendant, the mediator worked by phone to get the case settled a few weeks later for $440,000. We’ve recently begun having mediation using Zoom conferencing and have been pleasantly surprised by just how willing adjusters are to settle cases when they can carry out the process from their home or office rather than having to travel long distances for the mediation, as they often must.
In my first Zoom mediation, our client was crossing in a crosswalk and was hit by a car turning left. In our minds, our client was in a crosswalk on a green light and therefore clear of liability. But the defense argued that our client was negligent due to the fact that
she was not paying attention to traffic. The eyewitness testified that our client didn’t look before stepping into the street, was looking down and carrying a cell phone. We entered the mediation with the demand of $1.5 million and had evidence of our client suffering a fractured hip, aggravation of knee problems, and severe anxiety. The defendant came in starting at $250K, which we felt was a good start but nowhere near full value given our client’s compromised condition. After several hours of back and forth presentation, during which the increments never increased or decreased by more than $50k at a time, the mediator was able to bring both parties together in a settlement that resulted in $700K for our client. Even when we were presenting our evidence using Zoom on the computer, doing the necessary preparation before we began was the key to our success. Mediation can be helpful for nearly any type of case, and these two real-life examples show proof of that. But what they demonstrate above all else is how crucial it is to be prepared before you walk through those doors or sit in front of your camera for a Zoom call.
2 • NORDSTRANDLAW.COM
Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com
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