United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

Plaintiffs allege their decedent, Michael P. Dandry, Jr., died from mesothelioma after working with asbestos-containing products at Avondale Shipyard in 1971.

They moved in limine to preclude any mention, questions, or comments before the jury regarding collateral sources of income or payments such as “income received from pensions, Social Security disability benefits, insurance benefits, and even Medicare.” Defendants Paramount Global and Avondale opposed.

Under Louisiana law, the collateral source rule prohibits a tortfeasor from taking advantage of the plaintiff’s compensation from an independent source, providing that “payments received from [an] independent source are not deducted from the award the [plaintiff] would otherwise receive from the [tortfeasor].” The rationale is that “a tortfeasor should not benefit by a reduction in damages from outside benefits provided to the plaintiff.” The collateral source rule “operates to exclude evidence of collateral benefits because it may unfairly prejudice the jury.”

The Eastern District of Louisiana noted exceptions to the rule relating to charges that were not actually incurred by the plaintiff. The court granted the motion and excluded any collateral source evidence to the extent it does not fall within an exception to the rule. It allowed any defendant to raise the issue of evidence possibly falling into the exception at trial outside the presence of the jury.

A copy of the decision is attached.