Nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Dennis St. Laurent waits in the hall of the Licht Judicial Complex in Providence.
It’s been more than a year since he was involved in a motor vehicle accident – he was rear-ended by two pickup trucks while entering the Navy Base in Newport – and has been fighting with the insurance company ever since to recoup some of the costs he incurred.
Now he’s hoping that a court-sponsored mediation can close the matter once and for all.
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“I just want the whole thing to be over,” he said, as he pushed his hands further in the pockets of his faded jeans. “I ended up with back problems and they weren’t going away on their own. I didn’t know what I could do legally, and my lawyer suggested that we come here.”
Here is the Rhode Island Superior Court’s annual mediation week, which ran from Dec. 16-18. Since being created in 1994, more than 3,100 cases have been heard through the program with 2,207 of them being settled. This year 100 more cases were heard over a three-day period. All civil suits, most of the cases involve personal injury, motor vehicle accidents, dog bites, legal malpractice, and there is even one asbestos case.
An outsider, not familiar with the day’s activities, might mistake the fourth floor of the Superior Court building for a high school hallway on the first day of classes. Lawyers, adjusters, plaintiffs, defendants and mediators bounce from room to room, guided by Superior Court Associate Justice Alice Bridge Gibney, who is holding a clipboard with the schedule of who goes where and when.
According to Gibney, the organized chaos pays off in the end.
“The Superior Court and trial bar are enthusiastic about the program because it’s cost effective for both attorneys and clients,” she said. “Compared to what might be expected at time of trial, mediation drastically reduces time spent out of work and the attendant problems with child and elder care.”
The process is a simple one: Each case is provided a one-hour block to negotiate each of the three days, typically set aside at the end of the year. Gibney said if she is familiar with a certain case, which she often is, and knows it will go long, she will schedule that one for just before lunch or last in the afternoon to give them additional time. Under the guidelines for this particular mediation the plaintiff’s attorney must present a one-page summary of the claim. It’s also recommended that the plaintiff be present at the mediation session. Both the plaintiff and the defendant must agree to negotiate this way. As Gibney points out “it takes two to tango.”
“We have 38 mediators this year and they all have extensive trial experience,” she said. “They are all familiar with the rules and are able to synthesize quickly. Our program is successful 70 percent of the time. I think that is the best success rate in the country”
It’s not hard to see why.
Middletown attorney Robert T. Karns, who is representing St. Laurent and five other clients, expects all of his cases to settle.
“The biggest thing in a situation like this is to prepare,” he said. “I give (insurance) companies a full book of information so they know what I am looking for. I also prepare my clients, by helping them to understand just what they should expect.”
Not everyone is anticipating clearing all of his or her cases. Charles Creamer, an adjuster with OneBeacon, a Foxboro-based insurance company, is hoping to settle only half of the 15 cases he is working on this day. But even that, he said, will represent cost savings for his company.
“I have been doing this since the program first started,” he said. “It doesn’t cost us anything to participate, but if we were to privately mediate a case it would cost between $400 and $1,000 depending on its complexity.”
So what makes a successful mediation? Attorney Neil Philbin, who has volunteered his time as one of the 38 mediators, said it takes more than just the two sides sitting down together.
“The essential element is a willingness on both sides to participate,” he said. “They both have to be willing to compromise their positions. If they are not, then they are just wasting the court’s time.”
Attorney Kevin Cain agreed. “The best settlement is the one where both sides go away unhappy,” he said.
Whatever the outcome, both sides agree that the experience is a unique one.
“This is a forum where both sides can vent in a way that they aren’t usually allowed to in a formal trial,” Gibney says while signing off on one settlement. “It gives people a way to see how the process works.”
Gibney said the event’s timing is no coincidence either.
“We hold this every year at this time,” she said.
“We definitely use Christmas as a motivator. It provides insurance companies with an opportunity to close cases by the end of the year. But it also gives the plaintiffs a little bit of money for the shopping season.”
