Long Term Care & Senior Living Blog

The Missouri Supreme Court approved two completely new jury instructions for civil cases that require the immediate attention of Missouri civil litigators, becoming effecting July 1, 2017. Rules E1.00 and E1.01 allow the Court to read an Early Case Summary to the jury before the beginning of voir dire. The instruction is not mandatory, but left to the discretion of the trial judge. These Early Case Summaries will include a brief description of the case, the plaintiff’s claims and the defendant’s defenses, the appropriate burden of proof instruction and boilerplate instructions to be included in the final instruction packet (i.e. the definition of negligence instruction).

Recent actions by both the Missouri Senate and Missouri House of Representatives regarding the admissibility of evidence in civil actions would substantially change the litigation of medical negligence cases. In this article I discuss the proposed changes to RSMo § 490.715 related to the admissibility of evidence of the cost of medical care; commonly referred to as the “collateral source rule.” On February 2, the House passed and sent to the Senate HB 95. HB 95 modifies § 490.715, precluding the admission into evidence of the amount an injured party was billed for medical care that is alleged to have been caused by the defendant, but only if the amount billed was discounted or if the amount billed was satisfied by an amount less than the amount billed.

In Sanford v. CenturyTel of Missouri, LLC, d/b/a CenturyLink, No. SC95465 (Mo. en banc 2016), the Missouri Supreme Court recently held that an order denying a motion to compel arbitration is immediately appealable. The order denying arbitration must be appealed within 10 days from entry to avoid waiting for a final judgment after trial to challenge the denial. Missouri Revised Statute § 435.440 states that an appeal may be taken from an order denying an application to compel arbitration.

Approximately three years after the Missouri Supreme Court declared the non-economic damages cap unconstitutional in 2012, Governor Nixon signed into law Senate Bill 239 on May 8, 2015. This bill amends R.S.Mo.§538.210 and creates new limitations on the recovery of noneconomic damages in medical negligence actions filed against health care providers to include long term care facilities.