Mediation has been prominent in the injury and insurance field since the 1990s and has developed into a mainstay of personal injury and insurance practice. Expansion of mediation seems to have coincided with the establishment of no-fault auto insurance in Ontario in 1990. No-fault car insurance significantly lengthened trials and made bodily injury tort and first party accident benefits claims much more complex. Many more experts testify at trials and, in my view, the courts have not done a good job in managing the length of personal injury trials or the number of experts.
The significant lengthening of civil proceedings has naturally led to an extraordinary increase in legal costs associated with these cases. Our law respecting Offers to Settle is designed to make the loser pay the winner’s legal fees. This creates significant risk in almost every personal injury case.
Because of the increased expense of trials, settlement at private mediation must almost always be considered.
Tips When Mediating Catastrophic Injury Claims
Global mediation frequently is utilized in catastrophic auto injury cases for tort and accident benefits claims. Of course, these are cases where the plaintiff’s injuries are so severe that they meet the definition of catastrophic injury within the meaning of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule.
Please log in to read the full article.