The CTA`s campaign to reduce the number of personal injury suits it receives and the $40 million it pays out each year in claims is a smart move. Clearly that money, and the additional costs of staff and litigation, are reflected in the price of a fare and the level of service the CTA provides.
I would like to propose an alternative method to deal with the number of suits, the time involved, as well as the total cost. Mediation is the method, and the source is the Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR), a not-for-profit service established by the Chicago Bar Association in 1978 to facilitate alternative ways of resolving disputes, short of litigation or arrest.
On a daily basis CCR utilizes the services of 150 highly trained and very experienced volunteer mediators to settle lawsuits in Cook County Circuit Court, resolve disputes between parties which become police matters in the Cook County Criminal Court system, and mediate situations brought before Cook County Juvenile Court.
The CTA would greatly benefit from employing mediation as the first level of dealing with accident claims, even before lawsuits are filed, and certainly afterward. CCR`s success rate of 60 to 80 percent resolution (depending on the nature of the case) points to the possibility of a win-win situation in which the CTA pays out less, injured parties receive the fair compensation they are due quickly, and the public benefits through better service and stable fares.
