Defendant

Case In Claim, aged 9 months or more, with no meds or specials.

Submission for mediation, subject to missing documents, time to review and evaluate.

Just received summons and complaint. Still a possibility of no meds.

Submission for mediation, subject to stips and discoverable items necessary for proper evaluation.

Cases scheduled for "unnecessary" depositions (ie. liability clear).

Submission for mediation or arbitration: can be subject to missing discovery. An agreement for mediation will allow for adjournment of EBT's even if court ordered: arbitration may eliminate the need for EBT's altogether.

Multi-party cases where your insured is the culpable party.

Early submission for mediation may prevent co-defendants and/or third party defendants from seeking motion for summary judgement. If ADR is proposed before these motions begin, there is a much better chance to keep in "partners" for some form of contribution (however small that might be). It's still free indemnity dollars for your company.

Multi-party cases where your insured has limited or no liability.

Submission for mediation or arbitration, will enable the ADR company to gain the participation of the culpable party(ies), thereby increasing the possibility of shortening the life of the claim, lowering expenses and substantially reducing or eliminating unnecessary legal fees.

Cases where liability is clear and damages are being disputed.

Submission for mediation: the opinion of an experienced neutral, can force the parties to re-evaluate their positions as if they were on trial leading to fruitful negotiations resuming.
Submission for arbitration: will allow the chosen neutral to make a binding determination on damages, while enabling the CR to limit the exposure to policy limits and less. There is also no need for the insured to appear.

Cases where liability is at issue and the insured is not to be found.

Submission for mediation: no appearance by the insured/defendant is required, CR can rely on police reports, etc. to support his/her position on the issue of contributory negligence. Once the case gets to EBT's and you can not produce your insured, you have no one to refute plaintiff's version of the facts.
Submission for arbitration: without divulging the possibility of you not being able to produce your insured, negotiate a liability split "you can live with" (anything is better than 100%). The case can then be arbitrated "damages only", with the stipulated percentages then being applied to the award.

Cases where damages are relatively clear and liability is at issue.

Submission for mediation: the input of a neutral can often times break an an existing impasse and help move a case to closure.
Submission for arbitration: the liability can be arbitrated and percentages of negligence applied against a pre-determined amount, in consideration of full value of the damages. These details can be set forth by stipulation.

Infant's cases, where the settlement may be held up by the emotions of parents.

Submission for mediation: it can be suggested that the parents appear at the mediation, when an acceptable settlement is reached, the neutral can discuss the pros and cons directly with the parents. Settlement would still of course, be subject to judicial compromise.
Submission for arbitration: CPLR 1209 dictates that motion must be made to the court, to allow the binding arbitration of an infant's case. In application many carriers will do the arbitration, knowing that it must still be compromised before it would be considered binding.

Cases with questionable threshold.

These cases can be extremely expensive to handle with costs to handle and defend usually far exceeding potential exposure.
Submission for arbitration: proposing an arbitration EARLY with a small amount or $0.00 on the low will enable you to shorten the life of the claim and hopefully stop the claimant from treating. If the claimant is allowed to continue what is in some cases unnecessary treatment, the case may in fact meet threshold by the time it is on for trial. There is also the possibility of simple injuries becoming more serious in nature over time.

Cases involving claims against limited coverages (10/20, 15/30, 25/50, etc.)

These cases, relatively speaking, can be some of the most costly cases for a carrier to carry. The fixed costs and litigation costs combine in many instances to exceed the dollar value of your potential exposure.
Submission for mediation: As a "rule of thumb", cases which have Bl limits of $10,000/$20,000 should be arbitrated, there is just not enough money to make mediations viable. Should the coverage, mediation again becomes viable.
Submission for arbitration: Arbitration is an excellent avenue for resolution of 10/20 policies. Cases can be submitted with $0.00 on the low or some higher amount as an additional incentive for plaintiffs to participate, the high would be limited to coverage. Cases with policies over $10,000, can at times be negotiated to cap your exposure below coverage.

Cases where multiple defendants are disputing coverages, indemnity, strict or comparative negligence.

Submission for mediation: these cases can usually be clarified without the need for expensive declaratory judgement. Once coverage issues are resolved settlement can be addressed with plaintiff. Legal costs can now be used for indemnity.

Cases where note of issue is filed.

These cases are obviously in advanced stages and therefore should be in a ready posture for either mediation or arbitration to be proposed.

Cases marked final for trial.

Cases on the eve of trial submitted and agreed for mediation, in most cases will be extended an adjournment by the court, subject to the mediation. Submission for arbitration: an agreement by the parties and an executed stipulation will take a case off the trial calendar.

Every case should be looked at with eye towards some form of ''ADR". In many instances your cost to defend can far outweigh your possible exposure. Add to this fact unpredictable venues, subjective juries, cumbersome and redundant procedures. Additional considerations are the possibilities of inflated verdicts, verdicts in excess of your coverage, bad faith, creating bad law and appeal with the associated costs.

Industry averages suggest the costs to carry a file for 40 months can run $14,000.00 and more. The more quickly a Bl claim is closed, the faster claimant is prevented from unnecessary treatment (and you may be providing the no-fault benefits).

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