Collateral Source Rule

      Collateral sources are payments received by the plaintiff in a personal injury case for compensation or benefits from a party not involved with the case to compensate for the damages the plaintiff suffered in the accident or by medical malpractice. The person or company that is liable to the injured victim for his/her injuries regardless of whether the victim, an HMO, or any other insurer has paid for that medical care. The Collateral Source Rule is also an evidentiary rule that bars defendants from introducing evidence to show that a plaintiff has received collateral source benefits. Accordingly, Plaintiff's in some cases are essentially permits a plaintiff to recover damages twice. For example, in a personal injury case in Maryland, the jury is not told if health insurance or worker's compensation insurance paid all or a portion of plaintiff’s medical bills.
      This Maryland rule of evidence which dates back to 1899, is grounded in the long-standing policy decision that should a windfall arise as a consequence of an outside payment, the party to benefit from that collateral source – that the injured party likely paid for through insurance premiums - is the person who has been injured, not the one whose wrongful acts caused the injury.