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Heine v. Simon8/18/2005
reduce the "award" by the amount of the "collateral sources." Here, the jury, in total, awarded Heine $8,000 for his past medical expenses for the second accident. We agree with Simon that the $8,000 award is the proper starting point under the statute. The $27,167.44 that Heine claimed as his medical expenses is not the proper starting point because the jury may have rejected Heine's claim for $27,167.44 when it determined the award.
The difficulty in this case arises in determining the total payments from collateral sources because the payments involve two separate accidents with one total amount received for medical expenses. While the difficulty does not make the statute ambiguous, its application is nevertheless complicated. From the award, the district court was supposed to reduce what it determined to be the amount of collateral sources that Heine had received for the second accident. The jury's verdict of $8,000 does not necessarily directly correlate to the jury's conclusion as to the total amount of Heine's past medical expenses. The jury might have believed that Heine's claimed expenses of $27,167.44 were appropriate, but it determined that Heine was only able to prove that the second accident caused a fractional part of his injuries. But the jury also could have determined that Heine's claimed medical expenses were not reasonable. The jury had no knowledge of the collateral offset and had no instruction to specifically apportion damages between the accidents.
The $23,214.43 of collateral source benefits paid through workers' compensation covered both accidents without an actual apportionment between the accidents. The workers' compensation judge did not have to determine apportionment of fault or causation between the two accidents. See Minn. Stat. § 176.021, subd. 1 (2004). But, without knowing the apportionment between the accidents, we cannot conclude how much of the $23,214.43 applies as a collateral source to the second accident.
When the district court determined that the total payments from collateral sources were $4,046.99, it appears to have been guided primarily by the statutory purpose of avoiding overcompensation as it arrived at a collateral source amount that would pay the exact amount of Heine's claimed medical expenses. But the court erred when it did this. It should not have factored Heine's claimed expenses into its calculation because the jury appears to have already rejected that figure. The court's calculation also did not apportion the $23,214.43 between the two accidents. Although determination of the proper apportionment would be difficult, the court is not supposed to follow the spirit of the law when the letter of the law is clear.
We conclude that the district court erred when it calculated Heine's award to be the exact difference between his claimed medical expenses and the medical benefits he received through workers' compensation. We therefore hold that the district court erred and reverse and remand so that the district court may apply Minn. Stat. § 548.36 in accordance with this opinion.
We note that, at oral arguments, both parties indicated that even if we remand this issue to the district court, allocating the $23,214.43 between the two accidents might be impossible. Nevertheless, we remand because the court must make a determination in accordance with section 548.36. Further, we note that the statute does allow the court to "request additional written evidence or schedule a conference with the parties to obtain further evidence." Minn. Stat. § 548.36, subd. 3(b).
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
BLATZ, C.J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this c
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