Keep up with the latest personal injury law news and insights from the industry's trusted legal partner, Ged Lawyers. Here is an overview of what happened this month in the personal injury law field.
Dial v. Calusa Palms Master Association, decided by the Florida Supreme Court in April, may overturn the collateral source rule. The amount of past medical expenses presented at trial significantly impact case outcomes. As a result, limiting past medical expense evidence to amounts discounted by Medicare or other third parties is unjust and unfair.
The collateral source rule is based on the long-standing principle that tortfeasors should not benefit from collateral sources. The Florida Supreme Court reversed Stanley in Joerg, emphasizing the prejudicial effect of evidence of social legislation benefits.
Wills addressed past medical expenses, but Joerg said that distinction was irrelevant. In 2015, the Joerg court ruled that evidence of Medicare, Medicaid, and other third-party benefits is inadmissible, whether it relates to past or future benefits. Joerg effectively overruled those cases that attempted, albeit incorrectly, to apply Stanley and Peterson. This included cooperative leasing, which the court now suggests should be state law. According to Aaron Carroll, the collateral source rule in Joerg v. Dial threatens to do the exact opposite of what is right, just, and fair.
The collateral source rule prevents the jury from discovering collateral income. This also disadvantages certain plaintiffs, such as the poor, disabled and elderly, whose recoveries will shrink.
Learn more about this decision here.
Sen. Danny Burgess tabled legislation that would have allowed adult children to sue in the event of medical malpractice cases. Florida's Wrongful Death Act currently restricts those 25 and older from suing for non-economic damages. Burgess said that the bill would have opened a "Pandora's box" of litigation.
Some argue it could lead to higher costs for doctors who already pay some of the highest rates in the country. The Wrongful Death Act was passed in 1990, but there is no tabulation of how many lawsuits have been dismissed.
That legislation was driven by rising cases of malpractice insurance costs and the eventual exit of doctors from Florida. The proposed law would've pushed those costs even higher, but he empathizes with those frustrated by the law. "The legislation was not ready," Burgess says.
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