#216 Georgia Workers' Compensation Lawyer - What Can You Expect in a Workers' Comp Settlement Mediation?

Ty Wilson Law Podcast

So what can you expect at a workers compensation settlement mediation? Hello. My name is Ty Wilson. I'm a Georgia Workers compensation attorney. Our question is, what can I expect at my settlement mediation for workers compensation station? Well, hopefully you're going through this with an attorney. If not, you want to consider one. That attorney is going to help you maximize what recovery you could have in a settlement mediation. But it goes really before that, it goes into who are you treating with? Where is your care at? Have you used your one-time IME? Are you getting paid properly? These are things that the attorneys check and try to position the claim in the best light for you as the injured worker. But as to the settlement mediation itself, the goal at a settlement mediation is to settle your claim.

If you have an attorney, they will go there with you, whether it's Zoom or in person. And then you will have the opposing attorney and you will have what is called a neutral mediator. There are different ways to do settlement mediations. There are private mediations where you have a private mediator, and then there is mediators provided by the Georgia State Board of Workers Compensation. Both of them are highly successful. And so that is not critical, whether it's private or whether it's through the board. The board encourages settlement as it helps reduce the case load and helps people move on their way and close claims. And so it's in everybody's best interest when you get to that point that the claim does settle.

And so what is it that happens? Well, there's a couple of different ways that we've seen the mediators handle these. And I'm going to refer to in person, and then I'll back up and we'll cover Zoom mediations, which is obviously something that has developed ever since COVID. And so back prior to COVID, everyone would meet at the mediation office. Let's say at the state Board of Workers Compensation, everybody would meet in a conference room and it would be opposing counsel may be a representative from the employer. They're certainly able to show. And then your attorney yourself and the neutral mediator. We'd all get in the same room. Mediator would start and say a little bit about the mediation process and the fact that it's confidential and the fact that you cannot use any of this information to subpoena or pull somebody into a deposition for a hearing down the road.

If the case does not settle on that particular day, it is like the mediation never occurred and you move on with your claim, same thing with the employer insurer. They move on with doing whatever it is that they're trying to do with the claim. So from that point on, your attorney will say some things on your behalf or you will if you don't have an attorney. And then the employer insurer attorney will say some things on the employer insurer's behalf and then the groups will separate. Typically, the mediator will go with the employer insurer, because typically, that's when they're seeking the initial offer from the employer insurer.

If you're represented by my office, we send a demand ahead of time. So we started off the process with a number. They come back with a number and we're usually up here. They're usually down here and we go back and forth, back and forth, not necessarily in the middle. But we go back and that's the negotiation of the mediation. At some point in that mediation, you will come to a number where the opposing attorney will say, this is my limit of authority. This is all I have. Authority is a fancy word for money that the insurance company has allowed this attorney to try to settle this case with.

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