Damages Amendments

3
78B-5-621
0
Damages Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Ronald M. Winterton
House Sponsor:
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill addresses the recovery of damages in a civil action.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
defines terms;
addresses the recovery of damages for a medical service or treatment in a civil action;
addresses admissibility of evidence to prove damages for a medical service or treatment
in a civil action; and
requires a plaintiff seeking damages for a medical service or treatment to disclose certain
information related to payment of the medical service or treatment under certain
circumstances.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Utah Code Sections Affected:
ENACTS:
78B-5-621
, Utah Code Annotated 1953
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
78B-5-621
is enacted to read:
78B-5-621
. Recovery of damages for a medical service or treatment --
Admissibility.
(1)
As used in this section:
(a)
"Factoring company" means a person that purchases a health care provider's right to
collect payment for a medical service or treatment at a discounted price.
(b)
"Health care provider" means the same as that term is defined in Section
78B-3-403
.
(c)
"Health plan" means:
(i)
medical care insurance;
(ii)
health care insurance;
(iii)
a health benefit plan;
(iv)
an employer-provided health care plan or medical insurance;
(v)
workers' compensation insurance;
(vi)
Medicaid;
(vii)
Medicare;
(viii)
a public or government-sponsored health care insurance or benefit program; or
(ix)
a source available to pay for a medical service or treatment provided to an
injured individual for the individual's injury.
(d)
"Letter of protection" means an arrangement by which a health care provider renders
a medical service or treatment to a plaintiff in exchange for a promise of payment for
the medical service or treatment from a judgment or settlement of a personal injury or
wrongful death action, regardless of whether the arrangement is referred to as a letter
of protection.
(e)
(i)
"Medical service or treatment" means an action taken by a health care provider
to observe, identify, diagnose, stabilize, address, ameliorate, correct, remedy,
rehabilitate, manage, combat, or care for:
(A)
a plaintiff's injury, condition, disease, or disorder; or
(B)
a symptom of a plaintiff's injury, condition, disease, or disorder.
(ii)
"Medical service or treatment" includes equipment, a facility, a medicine, a drug,
a prescription, a device, or a product:
(A)
provided or applied to a plaintiff by a health care provider; or
(B)
used or consumed by a plaintiff at a health care provider's direction.
(2)
This section applies to a civil action to recover damages resulting from injury or death,
except for a malpractice action against a health care provider as described in Title
78B,
Chapter
3, Part
4
, Utah Health Care Malpractice Act.
(3)
The amount of damages that a plaintiff may recover for the reasonable value of a
necessary medical service or treatment may not exceed the amount actually:
(a)
paid by or on behalf of the plaintiff to each health care provider who rendered a
medical service or treatment;
(b)
necessary to pay for each medical service or treatment that is due and owed to a
health care provider but at the time of trial is not yet paid; and
(c)
necessary to pay for each medical service or treatment that the plaintiff will need in
the future.
(4)
Evidence offered to prove the amount described in Subsection
(3)
is:
(a)
admissible; and
(b)
limited to evidence of the amount that is actually paid or that will be necessary to
pay, regardless of the source of payment, including:
(i)
if the plaintiff is covered by a health plan:
(A)
the amount the health plan is obligated to pay the health care provider for the
plaintiff's medical service or treatment;
(B)
the amount the plaintiff is obligated to pay the health care provider under the
health plan;
(C)
the amount required to satisfy a future charge of a health care provider if the
plaintiff submits the future charge to the health plan; and
(D)
the amount the plaintiff will be obligated to pay the health care provider for a
future charge under the health plan;
(ii)
if the plaintiff is covered by a health plan but obtains a medical service or
treatment under a letter of protection or does not submit the charge for the medical
service or treatment to the health plan, the amount that:
(A)
the health plan would pay the health care provider to satisfy the unpaid
charge; and
(B)
the plaintiff would be obligated to pay the health care provider under the
health plan if the plaintiff submits the charge to the health plan;
(iii)
if the plaintiff obtains a medical service or treatment under a letter of protection
and the health care provider transfers the right to receive payment under the letter
of protection to a third party, evidence of the amount the third party paid or agreed
to pay the health care provider for the right to receive payment under the letter of
protection;
(iv)
evidence of a reasonable amount billed to the plaintiff for a necessary medical
service or treatment; and
(v)
evidence of a reasonable amount that will be billed to the plaintiff for a necessary
future medical service or treatment.
(5)
When asserting a claim for damages for a medical service or treatment rendered under a
letter of protection, the plaintiff shall disclose to the other party in the action:
(a)
a copy of the letter of protection;
(b)
all charges for the plaintiff's medical expenses, which shall be itemized and, to the
extent applicable, coded according to generally accepted medical billing practices;
(c)
if the health care provider sold the right to collect payment for the plaintiff's medical
expenses to a factoring company or another third party:
(i)
the name of the factoring company or third party that purchased the right to collect
payment; and
(ii)
the dollar amount for which the factoring company or third party purchased the
right to collect payment, including any discount provided below the billed amount;
(d)
whether the plaintiff had coverage under a health plan at the time the medical service
or treatment was rendered;
(e)
the identity of the health plan if the plaintiff had coverage under a health plan at the
time the medical service or treatment was rendered;
(f)
whether the plaintiff was referred for the medical service or treatment under a letter
of protection; and
(g)
the identity of the person that made the referral if the plaintiff was referred for the
medical service or treatment under a letter of protection.
Section 2.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect on
May 6, 2026
.
2-10-26 9:09 AM