For our readers who may become involved in an Orlando lawsuit mediation, you’ll be interested to learn that earlier this month, Mayor Buddy Dyer declared the third week of October to be Mediation Week in Orlando. The purpose is to acknowledge that:
- dispute resolution has grown tremendously
- mediation is one of several appropriate dispute resolution processes;
- there are multiple paths to justice;
- and the concentrated expertise of dispute resolution practitioners is helping parties find lasting solutions to complex problems.
So, how does this relate to medical malpractice lawsuits, and the services provided by Badgley Law Group in Orlando, Florida?
At Badgley Law Group, where we specialize in medical malpractice cases, the majority of our client’s cases are resolved in an Orlando lawsuit mediation conference. In fact, the majority of medical malpractice suits resolve this way nationally. When our clients are offered a settlement in their medical malpractice, we often advise that they accept the offer.
Here’s why:
- Recently, Diederich Healthcare did an analysis of medical malpractice payouts in 2014 as recorded by the National Practitioner Data Bank. They found that for the second consecutive year, malpractice payout amounts rose.
- The numbers in a 2006 New England Journal of Medicine study show that plaintiffs aren’t all that likely to get a verdict in their favor. Of medical malpractice cases that make it to court trials, plaintiffs prevailed in just 21% of verdicts, while resolutions that result in a settlement favored the plaintiff in 61% of cases.
When a client decides to file a medical malpractice or personal injury lawsuit, it is likely that at some point in the process they will receive a settlement offer from the defendant. This usually happens during the mediation conference. This mediation conference is required for every civil lawsuit filed in Orlando, and in fact throughout the State of Florida. The large majority of lawsuits are settled at mediation, because most clients prefer to make their own decisions about the case, rather than have a jury make the decision in a “winner takes all” situation at trial.
A good attorney will consult with their client and advise them on whether they think the offer is appropriate, but ultimately it’s the client’s decision. You should never be forced or pressured to accept a settlement; that is unacceptable.
At Badgley Law Group, we encourage clients to accept a good settlement offer at mediation rather than go to trial, if the offer represents a fair assessment of our client’s true damages and the chance of winning a trial. Since courtroom trials are statistically less likely to yield favorable outcomes to the patient, it’s usually best to negotiate during mediation. However, Jeffrey Badgley is a board certified civil trial lawyer and has been trying medical malpractice cases to Orlando juries for over 20 years. He has the expertise to go into the courtroom to present his client’s case to a jury, if an insurance company fails to adequately evaluate the full measure of damages.
Whether at trial or in a mediation conference, our goal is to ensure that you get fair compensation for your injuries.