Uspenskaya v. Meline
Oct 28, 2015OUTCOME: Affirmed in full with costs to respondent in 241 Cal.App.4th 996
Personal injury plaintiff lacked health insurance and received medical treatment, including back surgery, on a lien basis. jury awarded plaintiff nearly $430K in damages including over $260K in past me ... dical expenses, the entire amount of her providers' medical bills. Defendant appealed, arguing that court erroneously excluded evidence that medical providers had later sold their accounts receivable and assigned their lien rights in plaintiff's action to a third-party factoring company for an amount substantially less than what the plaintiff owed under contract for payment with providers. Court affirmed in full, agreeing with trial court that the relevance and probative value of amount factor paid for account was minimal, and evidence of such amount, if admitted, created substantial risk that jury would confuse the issues or be misled about true issue, which was reasonableness of providers fees to begin with. Represent plaintiff/respondent.