BarbriSFCourseDetails
  • videocam Live Webinar with Live Q&A
  • calendar_month February 18, 2026 @ 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Personal Injury and Med Mal
  • schedule 90 minutes

Collateral Source Rule in Personal Injury Trials: New Approaches and Increasingly Contentious Battles

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Discount expires 1/20/26

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About the Course

Introduction

This CLE course will guide counsel in personal injury cases on contending with new applications of the collateral source rule and increasingly contentious battles over a "reasonably incurred" medical expense. The panel will review how states have responded in recent years, identify the parties' strategies, and explain how differences in hospitals' and insurers' reimbursement and recovery of costs and expenses impact these issues and how the collateral source rule affects damages and recovery.

Description

The collateral source rule provides that if the plaintiff receives benefits from someone other than the defendant tortfeasor, such "collateral" benefits are not revealed to the jury, not introduced into evidence, and not deducted from the total damages awarded to the plaintiff. In recent times, the types and number of "collateral sources" available to plaintiffs have increased: union benefits, veterans' facility treatment, charity-affiliated reduced rates, and more.

The law in every jurisdiction allows plaintiffs to recover the "reasonable value" of the medical services incurred. Defining "reasonable medical expense" has become less clear, more contentious, and the subject of increased litigation and legislation.

Defendants have begun objecting to medical bills identified in an exhibit list or via a motion in limine filed shortly before trial, claiming that such medical expenses are neither "reasonable" nor "incurred" by the plaintiff. Defendants argue the bills were not actually "incurred" by the plaintiff because a collateral source paid them (e.g., private health insurance, state Medicaid, Medicare, workers' compensation, governmental assistance programs, etc.).

States have generally adopted one of three basic approaches on medical expenses that can be introduced into evidence and how much can be recovered.

Listen as our panel discusses medical expenses, insurance write-offs, and the collateral source rule in personal injury cases.

Presented By

J. Edward McAuliffe III
Of Counsel
Wilson Elser, LLP

Mr. McAuliffe’s practice areas focus on trucking and transportation and insurance defense. Prior to joining MBLB, he was an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, where he rose quickly through the ranks, eventually heading up the District Attorney’s Bond and Asset Forfeiture Division. Mr. McAuliffe represented his office at the Louisiana District Attorney’s Association, aided in overseeing civil litigation, and implemented new policies and procedures both in his office and throughout the New Orleans criminal justice system.

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Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Wednesday, February 18, 2026

  • schedule

    1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT

I. Overview and history of collateral source rule

II. Historical ways of proving reasonable and incurred medical expenses

III. How have defendants begun challenging the admissibility of medical expenses?

IV. Three approaches to introducing medical expense damages

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What is the collateral source rule?
  • What are collateral sources?
  • What is an "incurred" medical expense?
  • What are the different approaches taken by the states for introducing medical expenses?