Over the past decade, mediation has become the most common form of dispute resolution in personal injury claims in Ontario. In fact, 97% of these personal injury cases settle before going to trial and the mediation process has played a significant role in settling cases out of court.
The only parties involved are the plaintiff, the defendant (the insurance adjuster), each side’s lawyer, and a neutral third-party (mediator). The mediator’s job is simply to assist both parties in coming to an agreement that each side can live with, avoiding the prohibitive costs of experts at trial and the risk of an adverse cost award.
During the past decade, the costs associated with trials have escalated with expert fees; adverse cost awards for a two-week jury trial can commonly exceed $250,000.
Why Mediation?
A serious personal injury leaves the victim and their family with an abundance of pain and suffering to deal with, along with the financial burden. Catastrophic life changes may have resulted. The last thing they need is the added stress and expense of a lengthy trial.
Mediation can be one of the most effective ways to settle a personal injury claim, and allows all parties to have control of the outcome and avoid the risks, enormous costs and the uncertainty associated with the jury trial system in Ontario.
Another important factor to consider is the enormous backlog of cases in the courts, which has been compounded by Covid-19. There is currently an enormous delay in obtaining a trial date and an uncertainty with respect to when a long jury trial will be reached. Currently, the system in Toronto — where mediation is mandatory — does not permit a party to even request a trial date, unless mediation has been attempted and unsuccessful; this has resulted in further delays.
Why Brian?
With 35 years of experience as a trial lawyer in the areas of personal injury and medical malpractice litigation, nobody understands the benefits of mediation better than Brian A. Horowitz. With litigation experience in complex medical malpractice cases, a wide variety of professional negligence claims, products liability, motor vehicle litigation, other tort matters, insurance disputes and long-term disability claims, Brian has the knowledge, understanding and compassion to serve as a Mediator for your case — and to help achieve the fairest solution.
