Does 2005 Law Bar Evidence Informing Jurors About Write-Offs That Reduced Plaintiffs' Medical Bills?

Or is Supreme Court Ruling on Prior Collateral Source Rule Still Applicable

Richard Jaques v. Patricia A. Manton, Case no. 2009-0820

6th District Court of Appeals (Lucas County)

ISSUE: In 2006, the Supreme Court of Ohio held in Robinson v. Bates that the common law collateral source rule in force in Ohio in 2001 did not bar the defendant in a personal injury lawsuit from informing jurors that the plaintiff's actual outlays for medical expenses were less than the original amounts billed to the plaintiff because of write-offs accepted by health care providers. Effective in April 2005, the legislature adopted a new collateral source statute, R.C. 2315.20, which does not permit a defendant to introduce evidence of benefits a plaintiff received for his injuries from his own insurance or from other outside sources if the source of those payments has a legal right to subrogation, (i.e., if the plaintiff will be obliged to pay back money he received from that source from the proceeds of any court judgment or settlement he obtains from the defendant).