The Federal Fifth Circuit and the Collateral Source Rule in Maritime Cases

This article discusses the jurisprudence and statutory law concerning the application of the “collateral source rule” in maritime tort cases and how the current trend limiting its application to only the actual “paid” medical expenses seems to be catching hold, at least in the Federal Fifth Circuit. In the recent case of Deperrodil v. Bozovic Marine, Inc., 842 F.3d 352 (5th Cir. 2016), United States Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit explored the question of whether the collateral source rule allowed a maritime plaintiff to recover from a maritime non-employer defendant the unpaid, written-off portions of the medical expenses billed for his medical treatment.