| Venue: | CA Ct. App. |
| Facts: | Plaintiff gets injured in a rear-end collision. He misses a bunch of work, but since he works for a family-owned business, they keep paying him (he owns 15% of it, by the way). |
| Posture: | Verdict for the plaintiff at trial. The trial judge instructs the jury not to compensate for lost earnings because he continued to get paid. |
| Issue: | Should tortfeasors receive a windfall because other people help out their victims? |
| Holding: | No. Remanded for a new trial on lost wages damages. |
| Rule: | The "collateral source" rule: plaintiffs can still recover full damages even though they have already received compensation from other sources. |
| Reasoning: | If we allow this line of reasoning, it'll just keep people from wanting to help one another out, because they'd be effectively handing money back to tortfeasors. |
| Dicta: | There's no such thing as "double compensation" where pain and suffering are concerned. |