The collateral source rule prohibits defendants from introducing evidence that the plaintiff received any benefits from sources outside the dispute. The rule allows a plaintiff to recover the full amount of damages twice and also undermines the basis of a fault-based liability system.

Collateral source benefits include insurance policies, governmental benefits such as workers’ compensation and social security, and the gratuitous receipt of benefits such as wages or medical services.

The plaintiff receives compensation once from the insurance company, and then again at trial where no evidence of a prior recovery is permitted. Consequently, insurance does not compensate for an individual’s injuries, but rather is a source of windfall profit.

Double recoveries are unacceptable misallocation of scarce resources. Compassionate juries are often motivated to return a verdict for the plaintiff, regardless of the merits of the plaintiff’s claim, when they are uncertain whether the plaintiff would otherwise have the means to pay the bills resulting from the injury suffered.

Ohio legislators should control the inequitable effects of the Collateral Source Rule by applying the principles the General Assembly adopted in Senate Bill 281 to all tort actions and permitting evidence of collateral source payments to be presented to the jury.

32 states have modified or abolished the Collateral Source Rule for civil actions and/or medical malpractice actions.

Map data compiled by the Ohio Alliance for Civil Justice