Michael W. Brown v. Clear Blue Specialty Insurance Company Rise Up Trucking, LLC and Davis James Williams

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

MICHAEL W. BROWN NO. 2021 CW 1610

VERSUS

CLEAR BLUE SPECIALTY
INSURANCE COMPANY; RISE UP
TRUCKING, LLC; AND DAVIS MARCH 28, 2022

JAMES WILLIAMS

In Re: Clear Blue Specialty Insurance Rise
Company, Up
Trucking, LLC and David James Williams, applying for
supervisory writs, 19th Judicial District Court,
Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 695892.

BEFORE: McDONALD, WELCH, PENZATO, LANIER, AND WOLFE, JJ.

WRIT GRANTED. The portion of the trial court' s December 6,
2021 judgment granting, in part, the motion in limine filed by
plaintiff, Michael W. Brown, to allow plaintiff to present to
the jury the full amount of his medical bills is reversed. The
Supreme Court has held that a Medicaid recipient cannot recover
amounts written off by Medicaid. Bozeman v. State, 2003- 1016
La. 7/ 2/ 04), 879 So. 2d 692. In addition, the Supreme Court has
held that when the amount of medical expenses charged above the
amount actually incurred is not a collateral source its
exclusion from the purview of the jury was proper. See Simmons
v. Cornerstone Investments, LLC, 2018- 0735 ( La. 518/ 19), 282
So. 3d 199, 200. Accordingly, we find the trial court abused its
discretion, and the portion of the motion in limine which sought
to present evidence of the full amount of plaintiff' s medical

expenses at trial is denied.

JMM

AHP
WIL

Welch and Wolfe, JJ., dissent and would deny the writ. The
criteria set forth in Herlitz Construction Co., Inc. v. Hotel
Investors of New Iberia, Inc., 396 So. 2d 878 ( La. 19 81) ( per

curiam), are not met.

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

DEPUTY CAER9 OF COURT
FOR THE COURT