Missouri Laws 490.715 – Collateral source rule and payments rendered prior to trial, admissibility ..
1. No evidence of collateral sources, or payments rendered under subsection 2 of this section, shall be admissible other than such evidence provided for in this section.
2. If prior to trial a defendant or his or her insurer or authorized representative, or any combination of them, pays all or any part of a plaintiff‘s special damages, then any portion of a plaintiff’s claims for special damages that are satisfied by a payment from a defendant or the defendant’s insurer or authorized representative, or any combination of them, are not recoverable from that defendant.
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 490.715
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
3. If such payments described in subsection 2 of this section are included in a plaintiff’s claim for special damages at trial, the defendant who made the payment, or on whose behalf the payment was made, shall be entitled to deduct and receive a credit for such payments from any judgment as provided for in section 490.710.
4. This section does not require the exclusion of evidence admissible for another proper purpose.
5. (1) Except as provided in subsection 2 of this section, parties may introduce evidence of the actual cost of the medical care or treatment rendered to a plaintiff or a patient whose care is at issue. Actual cost of the medical care or treatment shall be reasonable, necessary, and a proximate result of the negligence or fault of any party.
(2) For purposes of this subsection, the phrase “actual cost of the medical care or treatment” shall be defined as a sum of money not to exceed the dollar amounts paid by or on behalf of a plaintiff or a patient whose care is at issue plus any remaining dollar amount necessary to satisfy the financial obligation for medical care or treatment by a health care provider after adjustment for any contractual discounts, price reduction, or write-off by any person or entity.