Court Ordered Mediation and My North Carolina Car Wreck

Posted on September 2013    

If you’ve been involved in an auto accident in North Carolina, you may be familiar with the process, including court ordered mediation. This is a pre-trial attempt to settle the case prior to a full-blown trial that comes only after your case is not resolved in negotiations. This can be very advantageous to people who have been hurt as a result of another driver’s negligence.

Generally, insurance companies are well-prepared to play the back-and-forth game that is the legal process. While there is a significant cost associated with having your case resolved in trial, insurance companies are not always willing or prepared to take financial responsibility for an accident.

Regardless of your standpoint on the requirement for mediation that North Carolina imposes on any litigant, it can be particularly helpful to injured parties who may not be willing to have the auto accident case dragged out in anticipation for trial and possible subsequent appeal. Another benefit to mediation is it requires all interested parties to come together to find a resolution to the matter. In several instances, the negotiation process may not send the right message to the insurance company. In these situations, it may help the insurance company to receive a notice of claim to know you won’t take their denials and disrespect lying down. Once a claim is filed, the courts will order both parties to mediation—essentially—y’all go somewhere and figure it out.

During mediation an important tool is using objective criteria to justify a demand. Rather than two parties shouting out their bottom-lines and “final offers,” it allows for both parties to give their offer and explain why using comparable measures of damages from past cases and anticipated damages as the result of certain injuries.

This requires experience with auto accidents in North Carolina, knowledge of the process and individual mediators, and quantifiable data of each particular insurance company to know how opposing counsel may attempt to negate any objective criteria your side presents. If you’ve been in an auto accident in Charlotte, or anywhere in North Carolina, call DeMayo Law Offices today at (877) 333-1000.