MEDIATION IN WORKERS' COMPENSATION - CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR EARLY RESOLUTION OF CASES

GMK ALERT – Today’s News You Can Use

ISSUE DATE:  Tuesday, January 26, 2021

IN THIS ALERT: MEDIATION IN WORKERS' COMPENSATION - CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR EARLY RESOLUTION OF CASES

Mediation of workers’ compensation cases is becoming more widely recognized as a way of resolving all types of cases of any nature, in particular those that do not seem to be amenable to resolution for any number of reasons including for example, when an applicant’s attorney does not appear to have client control. 

Mediation can also be very effective with regard to high dollar cases including but not limited to paraplegic or brain injuries, and those that may also include issues involving multiple parties, employer negligence, third-party credit, excess coverage or reinsurance, 132a and serious and willful claims. GMK is pleased to inform you that Barbara Thompson of our Woodland Hills office is available to provide you with highly skilled and expert mediation services.  

Barbara holds an LLM degree in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. Barbara is perfectly suited to this practice based on her many years of experience on both the applicant and defense sides and has excellent relationships with applicant and defense attorneys throughout the State of California.  

Barbara has been practicing law as a litigator for 31 years and has spent the bulk of her career working in the fields of workers’ compensation and employment law. Throughout the course of her practice, she has represented numerous parties on both sides of the aisle ranging from major national corporations to small businesses, injured workers, third party administrators and insurance carriers. She is a member of the Southern California Mediator’s Association and serves as a volunteer mediator for the Los Angeles Superior Courts.   

As we have all experienced, there is often an inability to expeditiously resolve workers’ compensation and related cases due to inefficiencies and backlogs in the workers’ compensation system, combined with the limited opportunities to use Alternative Dispute Resolution as means of early resolution of cases of all types. 

Barbara is available to mediate workers’ compensation cases with the primary goal of limiting the costs of litigation and expeditiously resolving your cases. She invites everyone to consider mediation as a fresh new approach to addressing your claims, especially the stubborn ones.  Now that we are working remotely, Barbara can mediate cases regardless of venue.  

Barbara can be reached at bthompson@gmklaw.com or 818-755-0444.