Indiana Supreme Court Resolves Collateral Source Issue For Personal Injury Actions
On May 27, 2009, the Indiana Supreme Court issued its Opinion in Stanley v. Walker, 906 N.E.2d 852 (Ind. 2009), holding that Indiana's collateral source statute does not bar evidence of discounted amounts to determine the reasonable value of medical services provided to plaintiffs in personal injury actions. This decision reversed the decision of the Indiana Court of Appeals which had held that I.C. 34-44-1-2 barred this evidence because the write-downs were the result of health insurance which had been purchased by the Plaintiff. Justices Dickson and Rucker issued a persuasive dissent agreeing with the decision of the Court of Appeals and setting forth the long history of Indiana law on determining reasonableness of medical expenses. Several questions still remain after the Stanley decision including whether it will be applied to write-downs required by Medicare and whether plaintiffs will be allowed to introduce evidence of the amounts they paid for health insurance to obtain this benefit and the increases in their health insurance rates going forward which may result from their injuries.
