Ministry of Justice plans to promote a wider use of mediation is “music to the ears” of insurers and claimants, Inter Resolve has claimed.
According to the injury claims specialist, proposals to use mediation earlier by adopting Lord Justice Jackson’s Review of Civil Litigation Costs, should be welcomed.
Peter Ashdown Barr, chief executive of Inter Resolve, said: “The MoJ’s proposals to increase the small claims limit puts mediation at the heart of resolving claims. Using early, low-cost mediation in small claims has to be music to insurers’ and claimants’ ears alike.
“Providing a simpler method of resolving the majority of small injury claims will speed up the process, improve claimants’ journey and generate substantial, tangible cost savings in the process. Our experience has proved that providing mediation not only pre-issue but pre-solicitor and even pre-referral fees delivers better settlements for claimants and massive cost savings for insurers.
Mr Ashdown Barr added: “The adoption of Alternative Dispute Resolution is not new and meets the overriding objective in the Civil Procedure Rules to attempt ADR prior to using legal proceedings and we have seen a large number of insurers and claimants use pre-solicitor mediation to measurable effect, particularly in small claims where the legal costs are so disproportionate.
“Insurers continue to talk about tackling the issue of disproportionate legal costs in injury claims, but we have seen savings of over 70% in legal costs in thousands of claims using low-cost telephone mediation before claimants are retained by solicitors.
“Surely the MoJ encouragement for increased and early mediation provides the industry with a real opportunity to use this as a springboard to make significant cost savings at the same time as treating claimants fairly.”
Source: PostOnline
