The Colorado Supreme Court issued its opinion in Sunahara, Jr. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. on April 30, 2012.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage—Collateral Source—Evidence—Discovery.
The Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals’ decision to affirm the trial court’s admission of evidence of the amount paid by a collateral source for a tort plaintiff’s medical expenses. The Court held that the common law pre-verdict evidentiary component of the collateral source doctrine prohibits the admission.
The Court upheld the court of appeals’ decision to affirm the trial court’s exclusion of respondent’s un-redacted claim file from discovery pursuant to Silva v. Basin Western Inc., 47 P.2d 1184, 1193 (Colo. 2002). The Court held that the liability assessments and fault evaluations underlying an insurance company’s reserves and settlement authority in an underinsured motorist action are not reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence as required by C.R.C.P. 26(b)(1).
Summary and full case available here.
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