Expenses — continued from Previous Page
tortfeasor should not “take advantage of the thrift and prescience of the vic- tim” who paid an insurance premium. Second, the rule assists with the compu- tation of damages because medical care provides a measure for assessing gener- al damages. Third, the rule accounts for the fact that a plaintiff who is required to pay attorney fees may not receive a full recovery. Finally, in insur- ance cases, concern over a potential “double recovery” may be illusory because insurance policies often require subrogation of the benefits. Ironically, having so eloquently
described the wisdom of the collateral- source rule, Cabrera chips away at the rule as it applies to general-liability cases, limit- ing recovery of past medical expenses to the amount paid by private medical
insurance, in direct contrast with King v. Willmett, Olsen v. Reid, and Howell v. Hamilton Meats, Inc., now on appeal to the Supreme Court. In claims against health-care
providers, the wisdom of the rule is lost entirely. In abrogating the “collateral source rule” in medical malpractice claims, Civil Code section 3333.1 stated: (a) In the event the defendant so
elects, in an action for personal injury against a health care provider based upon professional negligence, he may introduce evidence of any amount payable as a benefit to the plaintiff as a result of the personal injury pursuant to the United States Social Security Act, any state or federal income disability or worker’s compensation act, any health, sickness or income-disability insurance,
accident insurance that provides health benefits or income-disability coverage, and any contract or agreement of any group, organization, partnership, or corporation to provide, pay for, or reimburse the cost of medical, hospital, dental, or other health care services.
Past medical expenses Thus, if past medical expenses are
introduced by a plaintiff, the defendant is allowed to advise the jury that a substan- tial portion of the medical expenses have been paid by someone other than the plaintiff. As a result, incentives for jurors to award money damages are not only eliminated, but the lawyer for the plaintiff runs the risk of alienating the jury, and reinforcing the notion that the case is
See Expenses, Page 18
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