AboutDoctor Settlement Expertise 27 years of front line plaintiff`s trial lawyer experience in PERSONAL INJURY INSURANCE CLAIMS. Along with other attorneys and insurance adjusters, we have created a website to help injured people settle their own personal injury claims. With the help from feedback from hundreds of satisfied members, www.settlementcentral.com has become THE AUTHORITY for Internet personal injury insurance claim settlements. I am humbled and honored if people can benefit from my experience and current volunteer work in helping injured people. I hope I can explain things in a manner that is useful for the questioner. If not, do not hesitate to e-mail me and I will take a second shot at it! Best Wishes for your physical and financial recovery.
Experience
Life Experience: 27 years of front line plaintiff's trial lawyer experience
Organizations: American Trial Lawyers Association (AAJ)
Washington State Trial Lawyers Association
Awards and Honors:
I am humbled and honored everytime I am selected to help injured people. And when people give feedback that they have benefited from my experience and current volunteer efforts, then that is a double honor and award for me.
Question My wife's slip and fall case is finally moving along. Depositions are schedualed, but my wife got a letter today from her attorney setting up for Arbitration. This was a surprise.
Without knowing the strategies of her attorney, which she will call on Monday, why would arbitration be better than a trial by jury? I would like to have your thoughts on this matter.
Thank you for your help.
James
Answer Dear James,
I am Morgan Jacobsen, a personal injury attorney at www.SettlementCentral.Com Since Dr. Settlement is down and out for last week and this week, I have been asked to take over his service here so that will not have to wait any longer.
Dr. Settlement had two dozen requests like yours backed up, and he wanted me to contact him on each answer I am submitting for him, just to be sure that you questioners get the best information. He also wants me to give FULL information to compensate all of those who have waited for his answers.
Thank you in advance should you send any well-wishes, which I will pass along to him. Meanwhile, Dr. Settlement thanks you for your patience and understanding and he hopes to be back to work later this week (at which time he will face a full two week’s worth of backlog ).
There are two ways in which your claim could end up in arbitration. First is the statutory requirement for smaller claims (i.e. less than $35,000 in value). Second is by agreement of the parties.
STATUTORY ARBITRATION
There are court rules in most all states that require claims of a certain value or less to go to arbitration instead of a jury trial. After arbitration, either party can appeal to a jury trial, but she risks having to pay the attorney fees of the other side should the appellant fail to improve her position.
For example, most states have set the value at $35,000 to $50,000 for arbitration. The attorney will be asked to state the value of his claim. If it is below that state’s threshold, then the case will go to arbitration first.
The arbitration is before an attorney in the county who is trained and certified to be an arbitrator. These are just regular practicing attorneys who have agreed to arbitrate cases. They get paid something like $500 per case. The county will pay his fees and no costs will be borne by the parties, unless one of you calls her own expert witness (i.e. a doctor).
ARBITRATION BY AGREEMENT
This can be for serious cases as well as small ones. You will have a professional arbitrator: one who does this for a living. These are frequently retired judges. Usually they will cost around $1,500 for a case. The parties split the cost of this arbitration, unless they agree otherwise (which is frequently done at settlement).
This kind of arbitration is binding, and there is no appeal.
If your attorney signed you up for one of these, I would not be too happy. This is a decision for the client to make, NOT the attorney. You may need to review that decision and see if there is any need to ask for a change back to a jury trial.
ADVANTAGES OF ARBITRATION
Lower costs and ease of presenting the claim and SPEED are advantages of arbitration.
1. Lower costs. You do not have to call all of your doctors inasmuch as evidence is admissible under greatly relaxed rules. Many times I would just call the most impressive doctor and then get all of the records of the other doctors admitted into evidence via the relaxed rules. Don’t worry about the arbitrator having little time to digest the full set of records. They get a packet from each side two weeks before the arbitration, and they will have read everything prior to the hearing.
2. Ease of presenting the claim. Although the rules of evidence remain a backdrop, the arbitrator will often relax presentation proofs so that he will take judicial notice of some facts that one would otherwise have to prove if at a jury trial. Also, the attorney will be familiar with many things about the claims process and the medical treatments that laymen do not know. Hence, one saves the time of having to educate a jury. Plus, the arbitrator is always up to speed on the claim inasmuch as they will have read packets submitted by both sides so that they are focused on the issues and ready to get at the items in dispute from the get-go.
3. Speed is a big advantage of arbitration. It can take a couple of years to get a jury trial, depending upon the backlog at the courthouse. But an arbitration can be set and completed easily within three or four months. Plus, a jury trial will take a minimum of two to three days to complete, depending upon how long it takes to seat a jury and work through the expert and lay witnesses. My usual or I guess average experience in jury trials was more like four days. By comparison, most arbitrations are OVER in one day! They really move along. I only had two arbitrations that were longer.
I trust that my time here has been of value to you, James. And if so, am asking you to take a moment to leave some feedback for Dr. Settlement. He is still not feeling well, so any greetings at all will be appreciated.
I am sorry to say that our own Dr. Settlement is out sick still. He went down last week with the flu, and he thought that he would be back on Monday. Things did not improve today, so rather than wait for him to return in order to answer your question, I am going to pass your inquiry along to another experienced personal injury attorney at www.settlementcentral.com Her name is Morgan Jacobsen, J.D. She will set aside all of her work tomorrow in order to get to the backlog of work on the desk of Dr. Settlement. Hence, while we apologize for the delay owing to sickness, we are tuned in to the needs of those Dr. Settlement is serving---so expect your answer from attorney Jacobsen tomorrow morning. .
Very Truly Yours,
Douglas H. Green, President
Www.SettlementCentral.Com
