Perreira v. Rediger
Supreme Court of New Jersey
778 A.2d 429 (2001)
Maria Perreira (plaintiff) was injured slipping on snowy premises and sued the property owner, its insurer, its snow-removal contractor, and that contractor's insurer (defendants); her own health insurer, Oxford Health Plans, had paid roughly $13,000 of her medical expenses, and the defendant insurers argued that under the collateral source rule, health insurers could recoup such payments through subrogation or contract-based reimbursement once an insured plaintiff recovered damages from a tortfeasor. The New Jersey Supreme Court consolidated Perreira's case with a related matter to resolve how the state's collateral source statute treated this issue.
Whether New Jersey's collateral source rule permits a health insurer that paid an insured's medical expenses to recoup those payments through subrogation or contractual reimbursement when the insured later recovers a judgment against a tortfeasor.