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Arthur v. Catour7/21/2005
Wilson v. The Hoffman Group, Inc., 131 Ill. 2d 308, 320 (1989); see Beaird v. Brown, 58 Ill. App. 3d 18, 21 (1978), quoting Bireline v. Espenscheid, 15 Ill. App. 3d 368, 370 (1973); 11 Ill. Jur. Personal Injury & Torts §5:62, at 354 (2002). Defendants do not dispute that the collateral source rule protects the $13,577.97 that Blue Cross paid and plaintiff's health-care providers accepted as payment in full. Rather, defendants contend that the collateral source rule does not apply to the $5,777.28 difference between the amount billed and the amount paid. Plaintiff contends that the collateral source rule protects the entire $19,355.25 initially billed.
The collateral source rule protects collateral payments made to or benefits conferred on the plaintiff by denying the defendant any corresponding offset or credit. Such collateral benefits do not reduce the defendant's tort liability, even though they reduce the plaintiff's loss.
"They do not have the effect of reducing the recovery against the defendant. The injured party's net loss may have been reduced correspondingly, and to the extent that the defendant is required to pay the total amount there may be a double compensation for a part of the plaintiff's injury. But it is the position of the law that a benefit that is directed to the injured party should not be shifted so as to become a windfall for the tortfeasor." Restatement (Second) of Torts §920A, Comment b, at 514 (1979).
Accord Muranyi v. Turn Verein Frisch-Auf, 308 Ill. App. 3d 213, 215 (1999); 2 D. Dobbs, Remedies §8.6(3), at 493 (2d ed. 1993). The rule operates to prevent the jury from learning anything about collateral income. Boden v. Crawford, 196 Ill. App. 3d 71, 76 (1990).
A situation in which courts frequently apply the collateral source rule is where the defendant seeks a reduction of damages because the plaintiff has received insurance benefits that partly or wholly indemnifies the plaintiff for the loss. Wilson, 131 Ill. 2d at 320; Peterson v. Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet Co., 76 Ill. 2d 353, 362 (1979); accord 1 D. Dobbs, Remedies §3.8(1), at 373 (2d ed. 1993). The rule is well established that damages recovered by the plaintiff from the defendant are not decreased by the amount the plaintiff received from insurance proceeds, where the defendant did not contribute to the payment of the insurance premiums. Peterson, 76 Ill. 2d at 362; see Biehler v. White Metal Rolling & Stamping Corp., 30 Ill. App. 3d 435, 444 (1975). "The justification for this rule is that the wrongdoer should not benefit from the expenditures made by the injured party or take advantage of contracts or other relations that may exist between the injured party and third persons." Wilson, 131 Ill. 2d at 320; see 11 Ill. Jur. Personal Injury & Torts §5:63 (2002). Also: "Calling attention to the fact that a plaintiff had such insurance can be prejudicial error because the jury may conclude that plaintiff sustained no damages for which he was entitled to recover if his medical bills were paid by insurance." Biehler, 30 Ill. App. 3d at 444; accord Boden, 196 Ill. App. 3d at 76.
The dual nature of the collateral source rule is evident:
"The traditional approach is to treat [the collateral source rule] as having substantive and evidentiary components. The substantive component is a rule of damages. This component bars a defendant from reducing the plaintiff's compensatory award by the amount the plaintiff received from the collateral source. The evidentiary component bars admission of evidence of the existence of the collateral source or the receipt of benefits. The concern here is that the trier of fact may use that evidence improperly to deny the plaintif
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