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Jayakumar Sounderrajan, FCS, Chennai

The dynamism of dispute resolution shall be subjected to the inherent fundamentals like efficiency, cost effectiveness, time saving, fast and fairness. We all know Mediation is such a resolution process capable of resolving complex insurance disputes used to be costly and distracting to litigate. Successful mediation requires a genuine commitment by the parties to the process, a sensible process tailored to the dispute and a good mediator. That is where MEDIATOR AFFAIR acquires its relevance or claims its powerful procedural integrity.

Insurance disputes are prime candidates for mediation for a number of reasons. It allows the parties to gain the insight of an agreed-upon, truly neutral expert in insurance law and practice, a characteristic not shared by all judges. It allows the parties to more candidly identify (through the mediator) their true obstacles to settlement and to address complex scientific and economic issues that are often not well-suited for litigation, such as the allocation of loss among potentially liable insurers. Finally, it allows the parties to settle issues in a more comprehensive – and often creative – fashion than may be possible in litigation, with the assistance of someone who likely has a better understanding of what the market will bear in similar circumstances.

Online Mediation as applied to Insurance Disputes deemed to be a tailored resolution outfit while using the platform MEDIATOR AFFAIR.

The affected insurer can choose the dispute resolution forum. The parties can choose the institution to conduct the process as drawn by MEDIATOR AFFAIR. They can select the Mediator from the panel provided by chosen institution.

A mediation is only as good as its mediator. Usually as all mediators are not alike, there is no one correct form of mediation process. But MEDIATOR AFFAIR recorded a series of procedure which could facilitate the pre-resolution, resolution and post-resolution till executing and registering the agreement facilitating the settlement process.

This decision should not be taken lightly. From a policyholder’s perspective, there is often value to agreeing to an insurer’s choice of mediator, assuming the mediator is otherwise qualified and unbiased. The decision to use a former trial court judge, former appellate court judge, lawyer or other insurance expert depends on the parties and issues in dispute. Similarly, choosing a mediator with a more facilitative or evaluative bent often turns on the individual facts and circumstances at hand.

Pre-Mediation calls or terms of reference is a valuable discussion between and among the neutral/mediator and two parties prior to Mediation Hearing, could bring the resolution process more accessible or manageable for the parties,

MEDIATOR AFFAIR provides rooms for Mediator’s creativity with all these procedures prescribed in the process. MEDIATOR AFFAIR has set out a thoughtfully designed process for mediating a dispute, and during Pre-Mediation calls the Mediator could able to schedule the issues to be addressed during the mediation, setting out some form of agreed-upon schedule and limits for briefing and reply, protocols for oral argument by a designated representative of each party during the joint session or pre-mediation call  prior to  the mediation, the use of technical experts to assist the mediator in understanding scientific or economic complexities, and identification of who must attend the mediation for each party and how many days of mediation the parties agree to attend are being considered.

Further MEDIATOR AFFAIR could be a vibrant platform in making rooms for the changes as the parties may agree use to two mediators working together as a team, known as co-mediation. The parties may agree to a combination of mediation and arbitration or med-arb, where the parties agree to mediate first and then, if mediation is unsuccessful, to submit the dispute to arbitration in front of the former mediator. The parties also may agree to engage in a binding mediation, which provides the mediator the opportunity to decide the dispute within agreed-upon parameters following receipt of all of the parties’ submissions.

.A policyholder contemplating mediation can improve the chances of mediation being successful by making sure that its insurers understand the claim before the mediation, including giving its insurers the chance to ask questions and to ascertain the key facts before the mediation begins being facilitated by MEDIATOR AFFAIR in the procedure like pre-mediation calls or terms of reference or in case of any omission during the resolution, MEDIATOR AFFAIR could assign the things what have not been properly resolved and get everything mediated.