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Mar. 13, 2026

The song and dance of mediating personal injury cases

In personal injury mediations, where plaintiffs and defendants often march to entirely different beats, a mediator's spreadsheet and careful handling of medical bills--the 'Howell dance'--turns chaotic numbers into a settlement both sides can actually agree to.

Joel Bertet

Mediator/Arbitrator
Resolve Bertet

Email: joel@resolvebertet.com

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The song and dance of mediating personal injury cases
Shutterstock

In the theater of personal injury mediation, the "opening act" is rarely about the law. It is a choreographed performance of conflicting expectations, often set to two entirely different soundtracks. A mediator's role is to harmonize a plaintiff who wants to slow dance to Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" while the defense is ready to mosh to David Guetta's techno-track "Titanium." The choreograph...

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