Vehicle insurance claim mediation and arbitration
If you get into a claims situation and you and your vehicle insurance company can’t come to a mutual decision, then the next step to take might be for you to hire a mediator. The advantage of having a mediator is that, unlike an arbitrator, they don’t carry the weight enough to make a final decision. What they say at the end of the process between you and your company is meant more as advice than command, and they don’t get to say who gets the money and how much.
It’s a lot better and cheaper to go with mediation first before stepping up to something more hard line, because it is possible to solve things more quickly this way. It only works, though, if everyone works together. Both you and your company have to be willing to talk to the middle man in order to come to some sort of compromise.
If you figure out that you want to go ahead and take the step of mediation, the first thing that you need to do is get out your vehicle insurance policy. Your policy will have details within it that tell you what steps you will need to take in order to start up the mediation process. Normally, you have to get a request for arbitration form so that you can fill it out and send it back to the vehicle insurance company.
These forms can be got at the website of your state department of insurance and printed from there. Or, if you’re more old fashioned, you can just run up to the department’s office and get one. It may sound like the form is only for arbitration, but you can point out within the form that you want mediation instead, since the same form is used in both cases. Then there will be a person or company that is picked by your vehicle insurance company who will provide both of you with a list of possible mediators. Both you and the company can cross names off until you agree on which mediator you want to use. If you need, lawyers can also help you understand the mediation and you can even bring your lawyer to the sessions.
If you want to arbitrate, then again you will have to have the same form, specify arbitration, fill it out and send it in either to the dispute office listed in your policy or, in case there isn’t one, send it to the state department of insurance. Like mediation, both you and the company have to be fully on board with it.
Should you intend to use a lawyer for your representation at the hearing of arbitration, you have to send an advance notice about it to your vehicle insurance company. The same rule goes for them if they want to use a lawyer then.
The arbitration takes place kind of like a trial. Both you and the company come forth and present your side of the issue, with your evidence and so on and possibly the representation by your lawyers. You can have witnesses which can be cross examined by the opposite party’s lawyer. The arbitrator can send out subpoenas to bring some witnesses in. There may be a certain amount of time in which the arbitration must be completed, and if it is not stated in your policy, then the arbitrator will decide it. Once the arbitrator has decided who is in the right or how the case will in, the decision is final and you can’t take it past that.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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