Martin v. Scaife

MADDOX, Justice.

The legal issue presented here concerns whether a defendant who has been found liable for damage to a plaintiff’s automobile as the result of an automobile accident, has a right to offset the amount of repair expenses paid by the defendant’s automobile insurer against the amount of damages awarded the plaintiff by a jury.

On July 13, 1989, Neal Martin and Le-nelle Scaife were involved in an automobile accident. As a result of this accident, Scaife sued Martin, seeking damages to compensate for the damage sustained to her car during the accident. In an amended answer, Martin…