Mediation is often touted as one of the best ways of negotiating personal injury settlements without filing a lawsuit. However, there are cases where mediation fails and you have no option but to file a lawsuit. Here are some of the reasons mediation may not always be successful:

Impatience

Most mediators will tell you that you won't solve everything in the very first meeting. In most cases, it takes a few negotiation sessions for the conflicting sides to reach an agreement. Therefore, it is easy for an impatient person to give up on mediation after a couple of meetings if because they are not seeing instant results.

Dishonesty

Dishonesty is always a stumbling block in personal injury negotiations whether they are mediated or not. The minute the other party senses that you are hiding something, they are likely to assume that you are lying about everything else, and may stop negotiating with you. Consider a case, for example, where you are negotiating an accident case with injuries. If the defendant suspects that you are exaggerating your injuries, they are likely to lose faith in the process.

Unreasonable Expectations

Mediation doesn't give you a platform to get everything you want. Rather, it takes you to the negotiation table and gives both sides the opportunity to give and take a little so that you can reach an agreement. Therefore, if you go in hard with high expectations and stick to your guns, you are unlikely to succeed with the mediation. For example, if you went into the mediation demanding $50,000 from the defendant and you refuse to budge even an inch, then you are unlikely to benefit from the process.

Third Party Interference

There are also cases where a third party not involved in the mediation interferes with the process via the parties involved. For example, you may agree on one with only for your spouse to scoff at the raw deal you are getting. In such a case, you may be tempted to change your stance in the next meeting, thereby hindering the mediation progress. Do this several times, and you are looking at a failed mediation process.

Unstated Agenda

Lastly, mediation can also fail if one of the parties goes in with a hidden agenda. For example, some people make gigantic compensation demands in order to get even with the defendant or drive them out of business. You are unlikely to benefit from a mediation process with such unstated agenda.

As you can see, it is good to give mediation a chance, but you shouldn't forget that there is also a risk of failure. A personal injury lawyer will help you get your compensation, be it through mediation or an injury lawsuit.