With medical bills getting more expensive, people are fighting more about whether or not medical bills are reasonable and necessary. Read about a 2019 case that led to questions about medical experts’ use of databases as collateral sources. Medical Bills & Illinois Law In Illinois, for a party to introduce bills into evidence, they are required to prove that the bills are reasonable, necessary, and related. Usually by the end of the case, the defense agrees to stipulate to allow the medical bills into evidence. Plaintiffs often use requests to admit to attempt to get the defense to agree to Read more…
Category: Evidence
Witness disclosures are frequently an issue in jury trials. Lawyers are required to make disclosures in civil jury trials concerning what witnesses they intend to call, and what those witnesses are expected to say. The rule is intended to prevent surprise for litigants. It is also frequently used as a sword by the opposing lawyer to keep evidence out. This became an issue in the medical malpractice claim entitled Wilson vs. Moon. In Wilson, the plaintiff’s decedent was a young man, 23 years old, who suffered a pulmonary embolism which killed him. The plaintiff’s decedent went to the emergency room complaining of Read more…
Illinois law permits a plaintiff to dismiss his or her case and refile it later. Typically, plaintiff, often because they are missing a witness or have some other fatal flaw in their case, dismisses the case without prejudice. The plaintiff then has a year to refile the case. This is especially useful if you are missing a witness who cannot be found, but the judge will not continue the case. This came up in a medical malpractice case entitled Freeman vs. Crays. In Freeman the plaintiff had hired a primary care doctor to testify that the defendant in the case should have referred Read more…
In Illinois the Supreme Court adopted the “Illinois Rules of Evidence.” They are found here. As a practitioner, it is nice to have what is supposed to be the law on evidence spelled out in a simple document. I had the honor of attending the committee meetings and speaking about an objection to the way they were drafted on a certain technical issue. At the committee the people who drafted the rules indicated that they were not meant to change Illinois law on evidence. In other words, the rules are supposed to describe existing evidence law, not create new law. Since Read more…