Wills v. Foster

Justices Freeman, Fitzgerald, Kilbride, Garman, Karmeier, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

In this personal injury case, the jury’s damages award included the full amount of plaintiff’s billed medical expenses. At issue is whether the trial court erred in reducing the jury’s award of medical expenses to the amount actually paid by Medicaid and Medicare in full settlement of the bills. In addressing this issue, we will answer questions about the operation of the collateral source rule that were not resolved in Arthur v. Catour, 216 Ill. 2d 72 (2005).

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff,…