490.715. Collateral source rule and payments rendered prior to trial, admissibility of evidence — effect on special damages — evidence of actual cost of medical care or treatment permitted. — 1. No evidence of collateral sources, or payments rendered under subsection 2 of this section, shall be admissible other than such evidence provided for in this section.
2. If prior to trial a defendant or his or her insurer or authorized representative, or any combination of them, pays all or any part of a plaintiff's special damages, then any portion of a plaintiff's claims for special damages that are satisfied by a payment from a defendant or the defendant's insurer or authorized representative, or any combination of them, are not recoverable from that defendant.
3. If such payments described in subsection 2 of this section are included in a plaintiff's claim for special damages at trial, the defendant who made the payment, or on whose behalf the payment was made, shall be entitled to deduct and receive a credit for such payments from any judgment as provided for in section 490.710.
4. This section does not require the exclusion of evidence admissible for another proper purpose.
5. (1) Except as provided in subsection 2 of this section, parties may introduce evidence of the actual cost of the medical care or treatment rendered to a plaintiff or a patient whose care is at issue. Actual cost of the medical care or treatment shall be reasonable, necessary, and a proximate result of the negligence or fault of any party.
(2) For purposes of this subsection, the phrase "actual cost of the medical care or treatment" shall be defined as a sum of money not to exceed the dollar amounts paid by or on behalf of a plaintiff or a patient whose care is at issue plus any remaining dollar amount necessary to satisfy the financial obligation for medical care or treatment by a health care provider after adjustment for any contractual discounts, price reduction, or write-off by any person or entity.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
28
cases (
9 in the last 5 years), 1991–2025 · leading case:
Deck v. Teasley, 322 S.W.3d 536 (Mo. 2010).
Deck v. Teasley, 322 S.W.3d 536 (Mo. 2010).
· cites it 28× “She argues her evidence, that the value of her medical treatment was the amount billed by her health care providers, was sufficient to rebut the presumption in section 490.715 1 that the dollar amount necessary to satisfy the obligation to her health care providers constituted…”
Wheeler ex rel. Wheeler v. Phenix, 335 S.W.3d 504 (Mo. Ct. App. 2011).
· cites it 8× “At trial, the parties agreed the medical bills in that amount would go into evidence subject to Appellant’s objection that there was not sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption created in section 490.715. On Saturday, November 7, 2009 — two days before trial — Respondent’s…”
Brancati v. Bi-State Dev. Agency, 571 S.W.3d 625 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018).
· cites it 11× “If prior to trial a defendant or his or her insurer or authorized representative, or any combination of them, pays all or any part of a plaintiff's special damages, the defendant may introduce evidence that some other person other than the plaintiff has paid those amounts.”
Schieffer v. Decleene, 539 S.W.3d 798 (Mo. Ct. App. 2017).
· cites it 6× “5(1) isolates the relied-upon sentence from the rest of Section 490.715 such that it fails to acknowledge that the provision addresses and applies to evidence of collateral sources.”
Ruzicka v. Ryder Student Transp. Servs., Inc., 145 S.W.3d 1 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004).
· cites it 4× “715, RSMo 2000, “[i]f prior to trial a defendant or his insurer or authorized representative, or any combination of them, pays all or any part of a plaintiffs special damages, the defendant may introduce evidence that some other person other than the plaintiff has paid these…”
Montgomery v. Wilson, 331 S.W.3d 332 (Mo. Ct. App. 2011).
· cites it 4× “) Standard of Review Our review of the trial court’s application of section 490.715 constitutes an interpretation of a statute, which we review de novo.”
Lampe v. Taylor, 338 S.W.3d 350 (Mo. Ct. App. 2011).
· cites it 3× “The admissibility of the City’s proffered evidence concerning Medicaid payments and write-offs was governed by the version of § 490.715 in effect before its amendment in 2005.”
Stege v. Hoffman, 822 S.W.2d 517 (Mo. Ct. App. 1991).
· cites it 2× “The Hoffmans rely on § 490.715 RSMo Cum.Supp.1990. That section provides an advance payment or partial payment of damages predicated on possible tort liability shall be deducted from any final judgment rendered in favor of an injured person.”
Derossett v. Alton & S. Ry. Co., 850 S.W.2d 109 (Mo. Ct. App. 1993).
· cites it 2× “RSMo § 490.715 states in relevant part: Damages paid by defendant prior to trial may be introduced but is waiver of credit against judgment (collateral source rule modified) * * * * * * 2.”
Steven Walker v. Faith Kelley, 502 S.W.3d 1 (Mo. Ct. App. 2016).
· cites it 9× “While Plaintiffs Exhibit 9 is titled “Stipulation of Plaintiff and Defendant,” it appears from the record that the only “stipulation” between the parties represented in Plaintiffs Exhibit 9 was with regard to how medical expenses would be entered into evidence and presented at…”
Francis RUDNICKI & Pamela Rudnicki v. Peter BIANCO, 501 P.3d 776 (Colo. 2021).
“Importantly, a number of states that do not apply the common law rule at issue today have also modified the collateral source rule to allow evidence of amounts paid to show reasonable value of medical expense damages.”
House v. Missouri Pac. R.R., 927 S.W.2d 538 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).
“Under § 490.715 that stipulation waived defendant’s right to set off under § 490.”
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