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Chester v. Doig2/6/2003
up, organization, partnership, or corporation to provide, pay for, or reimburse the costs of hospital, medical, dental, or other health care services.
(d) Any contractual or voluntary wage continuation plan provided by employers or by any other system intended to provide wages during a period of disability. ยง 766.202(2), Fla. Stat. (1997).
The plain language of section 766.207(7)(a) and (c) clearly provides that the only setoff available in a medical malpractice arbitration is for collateral sources as defined by section 766.202(2). Because the settlement award in this case does not meet the definition of a collateral source or a collateral source payment, the Fifth District erred in concluding that the settlement award should be set off against the arbitration award. See Doig, 776 So. 2d at 1047. If the Legislature intended for Florida's setoff statutes to control the elements of damages available in medical malpractice arbitration, it could have specifically provided for the application of those statutes in the Medical Malpractice Act. See St. Mary's Hospital, 769 So. 2d at 973. Because the Legislature has not done so, we conclude the arbitration award should not be set off by the settlement award in this case.
We also note, reading further into the statutory scheme, that section 766.208(6), Florida Statutes (1997), provides:
Arbitration to allocate responsibility among multiple defendants.-
(6) Any defendant paying damages assessed pursuant to this section or s. 766.207 shall have an action for contribution against any nonarbitrating person whose negligence contributed to the injury .
Therefore, because Dr. Doig is paying damages assessed pursuant to section 766.207, he may have an action for contribution against any nonarbitrating party whose negligence contributed to the injury .
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that a setoff is not appropriate in this case. We therefore answer the certified question in the negative, and quash the Fifth District's decision.
It is so ordered.
ANSTEAD, C.J., WELLS, PARIENTE, and LEWIS, JJ., and SHAW and HARDING, Senior Justices, concur.
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