District of Columbia v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 06 October 1982
• Docket Number: No. 80-996.,80-996.
• Citation: 451 A.2d 867
• Parties: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellant, v. Doris L. Rawlings JACKSON, et al., Appellees.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

451 A.2d 867

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellant, v. Doris L. Rawlings JACKSON, et al., Appellees.

No. 80-996.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued February 2, 1982.

Decided October 6, 1982.

Edward E. Schwab, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Washington, D.C., with whom Judith W. Rogers, Corp. Counsel, and Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corp. Counsel, Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellant.

Samuel M. Shapiro, Washington, D.C., with whom Irwin G. Meiselman, Rockville, Md., was on the brief, for appellees.

Before KELLY, MACK and FERREN, Associate Judges.

FERREN, Associate Judge:

A jury found the District of Columbia liable to the estate, widow, and daughter of Lawrence Calvin Jackson in wrongful death and survival actions alleging false arrest, assault, and negligence by metropolitan police officers. Liability is not an issue on appeal. The questions pertain to damages, which totaled $120,740 upon three general verdicts: (1) Because the District's Medicaid program has paid or will pay $75,336 for medical bills of the deceased at Howard University Hospital, is the District entitled to set off against the total judgment the amount the jury awarded for medical expenses? (2) If so, can the appropriate credit be calculated by subtracting the Howard University medical bills from the total amount of the general verdicts, or must the jury first make a special finding as to medical damages? We conclude that the District is entitled to a setoff, but that special findings as to medical damages — which may or may not be represented by the hospital bills — are necessary before the proper amount can be determined. Accordingly, we must reverse the judgment and remand for a new trial on the issue of damages.

I.

The parties have agreed on the following statement of facts:

Agreed Statement of Fact

This is an appeal by the District of Columbia from an order of the trial court (Thompson, J.) denying the District's post-judgment motion for a credit on the judgment or, in the alternative, to alter or amend the judgment. The ground for this motion is that the judgment totalling $120,740 in favor of appellees in this wrongful death and survival action, included $75,336 in damages for which appellees and/or their decedent, had previously been compensated under the District's Medicaid Program. The District asserted that the collateral source rule was not applicable and, additionally, that appellees were not entitled to a double recovery. It urged for those reasons that it should be given a credit against the judgment for amounts paid by the Medicaid Program.

This action was filed by Lawrence Calvin Jackson, who died on January 2, 1980, while the action was pending. Mr. Jackson alleged in his complaint that, on September 20, 1977, he was falsely arrested by officers of the Metropolitan Police Department and that the arresting officers assaulted him. He included in his complaints counts for (1) false arrest, (2) assault, (3) negligent training, and (4) libel and slander.

Following Mr. Jackson's death, his widow, Doris T. Rawlings Jackson, was named administratrix of the estate. She filed a supplemental complaint on behalf of the estate in the form of a survival action and a wrongful death action on her own behalf and on behalf of their minor daughter. She reiterated the claims in the original complaint and additionally claimed that Mr. Jackson's death resulted from assault and negligence on the part of the District. The District of Columbia, the only defendant, was sued under a respondeat superior theory of liability. The District, in its answer, denied any liability to appellees.

Trial to a jury commenced on May 5, 1980. On May 29, 1980, the jury returned its verdict for appellees, finding the District of Columbia liable on the false arrest, assault and negligence claims. The count for libel and slander had been voluntarily dismissed by appellees. The form of the verdicts was $78,240 in the survival action and $34,000 in favor of Doris Rawlings Jackson and $8,500 in favor of LaVette Jackson, the minor daughter of Doris Rawlings Jackson and Lawrence C. Jackson, on the wrongful death claims. Judgment against the District of Columbia was entered on these verdicts.

Mr. Jackson received extensive medical care, prior to his death, which included a kidney transplant and dialysis treatment. Appellees introduced into evidence hospital bills which totalled $75,336 for care at Howard University Hospital. These bills have been paid or will be paid by the District of Columbia Medicaid Program, with partial reimbursement from the United States.

During the trial the parties entered into a written stipulation to that effect, which was approved by the trial court and entered into the record. The stipulation provides:

It is stipulated and agreed to, by and between the Plaintiffs and the Defendant, that all of Lawrence Calvin Jackson's Howard University Hospital medical bills have been paid or will be paid by D.C. Medicaid.

It is further stipulated and agreed that the District of Columbia will submit to and be reimbursed by the Federal Government a percentage of the costs of the D.C. Medicaid payments.

In instructing the jury, pursuant to written instructions proposed by appellees, and to which the District did not object, the Court allocated the medical bills proved by appellees between the survival and wrongful death actions. The medical bills allocated to the wrongful death action were those for Mr. Jackson's last illness. Appellees' proposed Instruction "C", which was given by the trial court, and which each member of the jury had in written form during deliberations, provided:

If you shall find for the Plaintiffs, you shall take into consideration in arriving at your verdict the pecuniary loss suffered by the deceased, Lawrence C. Jackson, as a result of the injuries sustained in this case which includes the value of reasonable and necessary medical hospital services. You shall also make an award of reasonable compensation for the decedent's disability which was caused by the actions of the Defendant, District of Columbia.

In assessing the damages to which the estate of Lawrence Jackson is entitled, you may take into consideration any of the following which you believe from the evidence to have resulted from the acts of the Defendant, District of Columbia.

1. Any bodily injury sustained by Lawrence C. Jackson, and the extent and duration thereof;

2. Any effect of any such injury upon his health according to its degree and probable duration;

3. Any physical pain and suffering and mental anguish suffered by him;

4. Any inconvenience caused by the injuries and treatment;

5. Any doctor, hospital, nursing and medical expenses incurred to the extent of $59,720.00.

Appellees' proposed Instruction "D" was also adopted by the trial court and given in written form to each member of the jury for consideration during deliberations. It provided in relevant part that:

That alleged monetary loss, plus funeral expenses of $1,969.50 and medical bills of decedent's last illness to the extent of $15,616.60 are the only damages that you may award plaintiffs under the Wrongful Death Act, if you find the District of Columbia liable under that statute.

The District of Columbia contended throughout this litigation that appellees were not entitled to recover for medical bills paid under the Medicaid Program. The District urged in its Pretrial Statement and Supplemental Pretrial Statement that, as a set-off or other matter in mitigation of damages, medical bills paid under the Medicaid program were not recoverable by appellees and that bills so paid should not be admitted into evidence.¹ Prior to trial, the District filed a memorandum of law, asserting that Medicaid payments are not within the collateral source doctrine and that appellees were not entitled to a double recovery for medical care.

Appellees also filed a memorandum of law in which they contended that Medicaid payments are from a collateral source. They also contended that the question of a set-off, if any, for Medicaid should be settled by the court, following trial, stating:

[Under Reid v. District of Columbia, 391 A.2d 776 (D.C.App.1978) and 399 A.2d 1293 (1978)], the jury should not be informed of the fact or amount of any

[Medicaid] payments; such information would tend to confuse the jury in determining a just, compensatory amount. A set-off, if any is proper, would be for the court to determine as a matter of law and not a question for the jury. The jury's sole function should be to determine a fair, full and just award. Thereafter, that award may be subject to adjustment.

At trial the District made no request that the jury verdict form reflect the dollar components which made up their final verdict.

During trial, the court denied the District's motion to exclude the medical bills from evidence, and it ruled that no comment concerning Medicaid payments could be made in front of the jury. Following entry of judgment, the District filed its motion to alter or amend the judgment or, alternatively, for a credit against the judgment in the amount paid under the Medicaid program. The court denied the motion without stating its grounds. This appeal followed.

II.

A. Claiming that they are entitled to double recovery for medical expenses of the deceased — i.e., both from the judgment against the District and from Medicaid — appellees invoke the common law collateral source rule in this jurisdiction: "[A]n injured person may usually recover in full from a wrongdoer regardless of anything he may get from a `collateral source' unconnected with the wrongdoer." Hudson v. Lazarus, 95 U.S.App.D.C. 16, 18, 217 F.2d 344, 346 (1954) (footnote omitted); accord, Jacobs v. H. L. Rust Co., D.C.App., 353 A.2d 6, 7 (1976). The rationale for the rule is that "it is more just that the windfall should inure to the benefit of the injured party than that it should accrue to the tort feasor." Adams...