Summary
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that the collateral source rule bars evidence of the amount actually paid by a plaintiff's health insurer for medical treatment when offered to establish the reasonable value of that treatment in a personal injury action. The court affirmed the court of appeals and remanded for proceedings consistent with its decision and the parties' stipulations. The opinion discusses the measure of medical-expense damages, the collateral source rule as both a damages and evidentiary rule, and related Wisconsin precedent.
Holdings
- In a personal injury action, the proper measure of damages for medical treatment is the reasonable value of treatment reasonably required by the injury, not necessarily the amount billed or the amount actually paid.
- The collateral source rule prohibits parties in a personal injury action from introducing evidence of the amount actually paid by the injured person's health insurer for medical treatment to prove the reasonable value of that treatment.
- Wisconsin Statute section 893.55(7), which permits collateral-source evidence in medical-malpractice actions, does not make such evidence admissible in this ordinary personal injury action.
Questions Presented
- Whether the proper measure of medical-expense damages in a personal injury action is the reasonable value of reasonably necessary medical treatment.
- Whether the collateral source rule prohibits admission of the amount actually paid by a plaintiff's health insurer to prove the reasonable value of medical treatment.
- Whether Wisconsin Statute section 893.55(7), as interpreted in Lagerstrom, permits admission of collateral-source payment evidence in this non-medical-malpractice personal injury action.
Disposition
affirmed
Cases Cited (14)
- Koffman v. Leichtfuss, 2001 WI 111, 246 Wis. 2d 31, 630 N.W.2d 201(followed)
- Ellsworth v. Schelbrock, 2000 WI 63, 235 Wis. 2d 678, 611 N.W.2d 764(followed)
- Lagerstrom v. Myrtle Werth Hospital, 2005 WI 124, 285 Wis. 2d 1, 700 N.W.2d 201(distinguished)
- Cunnien v. Superior Iron Works Co., 175 Wis. 172, 184 N.W. 767 (1921)(followed)
- Hack v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 37 Wis. 2d 1, 154 N.W.2d 320 (1967)(followed)
- Thoreson v. Milwaukee & Suburban Transp. Corp., 56 Wis. 2d 231, 201 N.W.2d 745 (1972)(followed)
- McLaughlin v. Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Ry. Co., 31 Wis. 2d 378, 143 N.W.2d 32 (1966)(followed)
- Lautenschlager v. Hamburg, 41 Wis. 2d 623, 165 N.W.2d 129 (1969)(distinguished)
- Leitinger v. Van Buren Mgmt., Inc., 2006 WI App 146, 295 Wis. 2d 372, 720 N.W.2d 152(affirmed)
- State v. Muckerheide, 2007 WI 5, 298 Wis. 2d 553, 725 N.W.2d 930(followed)
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