Top 5 Tips to Maximize Your Injury Case Settlement at Mediation (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: How y'all doing? Today we're going to talk about the top five tips to get the most money at mediation for your injury case. So number one, poker face. So they're going to say things that you don't agree with. There may even be outright lies, but don't get upset. Don't take it personally and certainly don't let it show. Number two, shut up and listen. They're going to tell you how they're going to defend the case. You should be listening to that, taking notes as well as your lawyer should be doing the same thing. Number three, dress well. So in part they're going to be kind of sizing you up. How are they going to present to a jury? Are you likable? Remember the number one reason that jurors fine for somebody is deservability. That's from David Ball's Damages book. That's the number one reason. Do you deserve to win? So dress well. People like people that are similar to them. So make sure you present well by dressing well. Number four, know the value of your case beforehand. So you should talk with your lawyer about what's the minimum that you would accept for the case and that is without going to trial. And what are the numbers? What's the maximum that you're going to ask for? Because obviously you ask for more than you're willing to accept in the case and there'll be some back and forth. So you want to be patient during that. I would talk, number five, talk with your lawyer before all this. So you want to be prepared going into it. Talk with them about what they think the value of the case is. You may have unreasonable expectations about what the value of the case is. Trust your lawyer if you do trust them. But trust their judgment. Hopefully you do trust them. If you don't, maybe you need a second opinion to talk to somebody else. But somebody's been doing it a while, probably has a range. For instance, this case is worth $75,000 to $125,000 before trial. So a lot of times they're going to offer less than what you think the case is worth. But you also don't have to go to trial and there's extra costs involved. So talk with your lawyer about that. You know, just getting experts there. Standard car accident case, I spend $15,000 getting that in front of a jury. That's money I spend that comes out of the client's, you know, pocket at the end because the lawyer has to be reimbursed. So understand what's your final number likely to be. And of course you want to get a lawyer that reduces the medical bills down. So those are the top five tips when you go to mediation to try to get you the most money for your injury case. Until next time, this is Gray from GrayTest.com. Remember, law is not black or white, it's gray.