Negotiating and Settling Tort Cases: Evaluating the Case, Making the Demand, Bargaining Directly or in Mediation
Creating Strategies, Making Opponents More Receptive to Proposals, and Preparing Antidotes for Hard Bargaining Tactics
Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A
This CLE webinar will discuss strategies and techniques that lawyers can use to increase their chances of securing better settlements (considering amounts and timing of settlement). The program will discuss determining the right settlement amount, how to evaluate when settlement offers a better financial outcome than trial, how to structure a settlement, and will offer instruction on persuasive negotiation techniques, whether engaging in distributive "fixed pie" bargaining, more integrative bargaining, or a hybrid of both. The panel will also discuss how to adapt these tools to various stages of the case. Finally, the program also will be of keen interest for policyholder coverage lawyers as well as insurance claims professionals.
Outline
- Evaluating when settlement is a better alternative
- Settlement strategies and styles in personal injury cases
- Reactive
- Strategic
- Fixed-pie bargaining
- Integrative bargaining
- Impediments to settlement
- Techniques and strategies for influencing negotiation
- Dealing with threats, extreme demands, or unethical behavior
Benefits
The panel will review these and other issues:
- What is the difference between a negotiation strategy, negotiation style, and influence?
- Is it possible to employ deal-type negotiation strategies in personal injury cases to make the pie bigger?
- How can the plaintiff (and the defendant itself) put pressure on the defendant’s insurers to settle the case?
- When is it useful to engage a third-party neutral?
Faculty
Stacie Feldman Hausner, Esq.
Mediator
ADR Services
Ms. Hausner, Esq. has mediated full time since 2015. She has successfully mediated more than 1,000 cases in the areas... | Read More
Ms. Hausner, Esq. has mediated full time since 2015. She has successfully mediated more than 1,000 cases in the areas of business, real estate, personal injury, employment, insurance coverage, construction defect, malpractice, civil rights, entertainment, and intellectual property law. Ms. Hausner has an exceptionally high settlement rate due to her tenacity, calm and friendly demeanor, creative “out of the box” thinking, and keen insight. She draws on her broad mediation experience, as well as her extensive study and understanding of the fields of negotiation and mediation. After an extensive career as a litigator, practicing law at both defense and plaintiff firms, Ms. Hausner launched her mediation practice because she understood the perspectives and interests of the opposing sides to a dispute, as well as the benefits of alternative dispute resolution. She received an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, and prior to joining ADR Services, Inc., she successfully mediated more than one hundred settlement conferences for the Los Angeles Superior Court. Ms. Hausner has spent considerable time mediating for the Central District of the United States District Court, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, and the Center for Conflict Resolution.
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Guy O. Kornblum
Principal
Guy O. Kornblum
Mr. Kornblum has specialized as a trial and appellate lawyer for 40 years. He has handled over 3,500... | Read More
Mr. Kornblum has specialized as a trial and appellate lawyer for 40 years. He has handled over 3,500 litigated matters to conclusion and has several million dollar plus cases to his credit. Mr. Kornblum’s practice focuses on representing plaintiffs, claimants, policyholders and victims of tortious and contractual wrongs in insurance bad faith, among other claims.
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Marc S. Mayerson
Principal
The Mayerson Firm
Mr. Mayerson specializes in complex insurance-coverage disputes including litigation, settlement and advice, and... | Read More
Mr. Mayerson specializes in complex insurance-coverage disputes including litigation, settlement and advice, and has appeared as counsel in actions seeking insurance recovery for environmental liabilities, asbestos bodily injury claims, product-liability claims, medical-device liability, fidelity losses, errors-and-omissions liability and employment-practices liability matters.
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