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Monthly Archives: July 2018

Reimbursed Injury Losses May Still Be Recoverable in Alabama

Jul 31, 2018 - Personal Injury by

If you have been injured in an accident (that was caused by the negligent or wrongful actions of another party), then you may be entitled to significant damages.  Importantly, however, many injured plaintiffs have access to some form of third-party reimbursement.  For example, if you are injured in a car accident, then you may not actually pay any of your medical expenses out of pocket if you have comprehensive health insurance coverage. How does reimbursement affect your damage recovery in a lawsuit? In Alabama, and in most other states, the common law “collateral source rule” made evidence of any third-party reimbursement — such as health insurance, disability insurance, and property insurance — inadmissible as evidence in litigation.  Such evidence was traditionally deemed irrelevant and potentially confusing to the jury. This had an enormous, positive influence on damages recovery for injured plaintiffs who were otherwise reimbursed for their losses.  Generally speaking, one’s billed losses are much higher than the actual losses.  For example, you may be charged $100,000 for medical treatment, but have the entire amount reimbursed due to health insurance coverage — in the end, your insurer may have only paid $25,000 to the hospital (after negotiating the cost down).  According to the common law collateral source rule, however, you would be entitled to claim $100,000 in medical expenses damages, and the defendant could not introduce evidence of the reimbursement to counter your claim. Alabama Statutory Modifications With regard to all civil actions (including personal injury and medical malpractice), the […]

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