Gelsomino v. Mendonca

• Decision Date: 26 January 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-36-Appeal.,98-36-Appeal.
• Citation: 723 A.2d 300
• Parties: Marie GELSOMINO v. James MENDONCA et al.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

723 A.2d 300

Marie GELSOMINO v. James MENDONCA et al.

No. 98-36-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

January 26, 1999.

Ronald J. Resmini, Barrington, for plaintiff.

Peter A. Clarkin, Providence, for defendant.

Present: WEISBERGER, C.J., and LEDERBERG, BOURCIER, FLANDERS, and GOLDBERG, JJ.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

This case came before the Court for oral argument on December 15, 1998, pursuant to an order directing the parties to show cause why the plaintiff's appeal should not be summarily decided. After reviewing the memoranda submitted by the parties and hearing the oral arguments of counsel, we are of the opinion that cause has not been shown and that the issues raised by this appeal will be summarily decided at this time.

The pertinent facts are as follows. On October 7, 1991, plaintiff Marie Gelsomino, a Central Falls school teacher, was holding class in a temporary trailer on Cross Street in Central Falls outside the Broad Street Elementary School when the trailer was struck by a police cruiser operated by the defendant, Officer James Mendonca of the Central Falls Police Department. Mendonca lost control of his cruiser and collided with the trailer while in pursuit of an automobile which had just run through a red light. Gelsomino alleges that the accident caused her to suffer lower back and leg pain, which prevented her from performing her duties as an elementary school teacher and participating in activities she enjoyed prior to the accident.

On August 24, 1994, plaintiff filed suit seeking damages based on negligence against defendants Mendonca and the City of Central Falls. The case went to court-annexed arbitration, which resulted in an award to plaintiff of $120,000. Plaintiff rejected the award and proceeded to trial. At the conclusion of a Superior Court trial, a jury awarded plaintiff $25,000 in damages. The court clerk added prejudgment interest to the verdict against defendant Mendonca but did not add the same to the verdict against the city. The trial justice later granted Mendonca's motion to strike the award of prejudgment interest against him while denying plaintiff's motion for new trial and/or additur.

The plaintiff thereafter filed this appeal, asserting that the trial justice: (1) violated the collateral source doctrine by admitting evidence that the plaintiff was receiving a disability pension and in failing to instruct the jury to disregard the pension when computing damages; (2) erred by refusing to give a requested "thin skull" instruction; (3) erred in striking the award of prejudgment interest against defendant Mendonca; and (4) erred in denying plaintiff's motion for a new trial and/or additur. We shall consider the issues raised by the plaintiff in the order of their importance to this opinion.

Collateral Source Doctrine

First, plaintiff claims that the trial justice erred by admitting evidence regarding plaintiff's receipt of a disability pension and failing to instruct the jury, as requested by plaintiff, that this pension was from a collateral source and should not be deducted from the total damages awarded to plaintiff. We are of the opinion that this contention has merit.

The collateral source doctrine mandates that evidence of payments made to an injured party from sources independent of a tort-feasor are inadmissible and shall not diminish the tort-feasor's liability to the plaintiff. Moniz v. Providence Chain Co., 618 A.2d 1270, 1272 (R.I.1993). "The rationale of this rule is that the injured person is entitled to be made whole, since it is no concern of the tort-feasor that someone else completely unconnected with the tort-feasor has aided his victim ***," Colvin v. Goldenberg, 108 R.I. 198, 202, 273 A.2d 663, 666 (1971), and the "wrongdoer, responsible for injuring the plaintiff, should not receive [this] windfall." Oddo v. Cardi, 100 R.I. 578, 584-85, 218 A.2d 373, 377 (1966) (quoting Coyne v. Campbell, 11 N.Y.2d 372, 230 N.Y.S.2d 1, 183 N.E.2d 891, 894 (N.Y.1962) (Fuld, J., dissenting)). In respect to the defendant police officer, the plaintiffs argument is most persuasive. Certainly, the officer, as a tortfeasor, provided no financial benefits to the plaintiff and is clearly not entitled to any deduction from damages found to have been caused by his negligence by reason of any sums paid to the plaintiff through her disability pension arrangement with the city and/or state. The jury should have been so instructed.

In respect to the defendant city, the application of the collateral source doctrine is somewhat more complex. As we suggested in Colvin, it may well be that a tort-feasor employer is entitled to a deduction from the plaintiffs damages by reason of sums or benefits paid by the employer. 108 R.I. at 202, 273 A.2d at 666. However, the majority rule is that pensions would not be deductible from damages awarded to such a plaintiff. See, e.g., Arneson v. Callahan, 128 F.3d 1243, 1248 (8th Cir.1997); Davis v.. Odeco, Inc., 18 F.3d 1237, 1244 (5th Cir.1994); McDowell v. Avtex Fibers, Inc., 740 F.2d 214, 217 (3d Cir.1984); Reid v. District of Columbia, 391 A.2d 776, 778-79 (D.C.Ct.App.1978).

We believe that the better rule would be to allow a deduction from loss of earnings or other expenses to the extent that the disability payments and/or pension or other disbursements have been funded by or are attributable to contributions made by the employer, in this case the City of Central Falls. See, e.g., Lussier v. Runyon, 50 F.3d 1103, 1111-12 (1st Cir.1995); Graefenhain v. Pabst Brewing Co., 870 F.2d 1198, 1210 (7th Cir.1989); Fariss v. Lynchburg Foundry, 769 F.2d 958, 966 (4th Cir.1985); Hagelthorn v. Kennecott Corp., 710 F.2d 76, 87 (2d Cir. 1983). The burden of proving the portion of the disability pension or benefit that...