Kenney v. Liston

Plaintiff was seriously injured in a car accident caused by Defendant. Plaintiff incurred medical bills in excess of $70,000, a portion of which was discounted. Plaintiff sought to recover the entire amount of his medical bills as his necessary and reasonable expenses. Defendant filed a motion in limine asserting that Plaintiff’s damages should be limited to the amounts actually paid by Plaintiff and the amounts paid on Plaintiff’s behalf by any collateral source, such as Plaintiff’s health insurance provider. The circuit court denied Defendant’s motion, reasoning that the discounts or write-offs were a collateral source to Plaintiff. After a trial, the jury awarded Plaintiff compensatory damages of more than $3 million, which included $74,061 for Plaintiff’s past medical expenses, and returned a punitive damage verdict for $300,000. The Supreme Court affirmed the jury’s award of compensatory and punitive damages, holding (1) the trial court did not err in applying the collateral source rule to exclude evidence of Plaintiff’s discounted medical bills; and (2) there was no error underlying the jury’s punitive damage verdict. View "Kenney v. Liston" on Justia Law