Personal Injury Law

California Judges Corrected on Application of Controversial Collateral Source Exception

By Ross Jurewitz

California judges recently received better guidance for how and when to apply a controversial exception to the collateral source rule, a rule that permits California injury victims to recover the full amount of medical bills incurred following an accident even if paid by a source other than the person who caused the accident (a "collateral source").

The clarification recently came through the editing of citations in the California Judicial Council Judges Benchbook, a reference source for judges hearing California personal injury cases. The edit makes it clear that defendants are not entitled to a post-trial reduction hearing. Rather defendants must meet a specific exception to the collateral source rule for the trial court to consider holding a post-trial reduction hearing.

You can read more about this development, as well as the insurance companies' efforts to misapply California case law, in this post at our San Diego personal injury attorneys website.

Full post as published by San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog on April 15, 2009 (boomark / email).