The Dallas Morning News (8/9, Roberson) reported, clarifying a 2003 tort reform law, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in July "that plaintiffs cannot base personal injury lawsuits on hospitals' billed charges, but rather the lower amount the hospitals finally accepted as payment."
The ruling stems from a case in which Aaron Haygood successfully sued Margarita Garza de Escabedo for $110,000 in hospital bills and surgeries after she hit his car. But since Haygood was covered by Medicare Part B, his bills dropped to $27,700. The court overturned the decision saying a plaintiff can only recoup what his insurer pays and whatever "the hospital has a legal right to recover."
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