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 in the accident. 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 a evidentiary
rule that bars defendants from introducing evidence to show that
a plaintiff has received collateral source benefits and in so
doing, it 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 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.
