Opinion ID: 1058370
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: Deferred Compensation and Death Benefits

Text: Finally, the defendants argue that the trial court erred by allowing the plaintiff to recover the total amount awarded by the jury even though the plaintiff had received $1,003,497 as a death benefit paid by the decedent's employer. The defendants argue that the death benefits offset the amount awarded by the jury for the pecuniary value of the decedent's life. The plaintiff argues that the trial court correctly denied the defendants' motion to decrease the jury's verdict for the amount of the benefits paid by the decedent's employer. [10] The record shows that the defendants raised this issue prior to trial by seeking to prevent the plaintiff from introducing the amount of the death benefit payment as evidence of actual economic losses. According to the deposition testimony of Gail Neuman, the head of human resources at Nissan, the decedent had worked at Nissan since 1981 and had participated in an Executive Insurance Plan. According to Ms. Neuman, the decedent deferred a certain amount of annual income with which Nissan purchased insurance. The plan provided that when a participating employee died, the employee's estate or beneficiaries were entitled to an amount equal to fifty times the annual deferred amount. Ms. Neuman testified that after taxes and adjustments for the decedent's early withdrawals, the plaintiff received $722,517.84. In denying the defendants' motion for a credit against the jury's verdict after trial, the trial court stated that it had considered the testimony of Ms. Neuman and had read the language in the Executive Insurance Plan. The trial court found that the decedent made deferred income compensation to this plan, out of which he received a benefit. Moreover, the trial court found that Nissan purchased insurance with his benefits [and whether] they gave them back to him is immaterial. Accordingly, the trial court did not credit the amount received by the plaintiff under the plan against the jury's verdict. We begin our review of this issue with Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-119, which governs damages in a malpractice action: In a malpractice action in which liability is admitted or established, the damages awarded may include (in addition to other elements of damages authorized by law), actual economic losses suffered by the claimant by reason of the personal injury including, but not limited to cost of reasonable and necessary medical care, rehabilitation services, and custodial care, loss of services and loss of earned income, but only to the extent that such costs are not paid or payable and such losses are not replaced, or indemnified in whole or in part, by insurance provided by an employer ..., by social security benefits, service benefit programs, unemployment benefits, or any other source except the assets of the claimant or of the claimant's immediate family and insurance purchased in whole or in part, privately and individually. (emphasis added.) Because Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-119 is in derogation of the common law rule that allowed plaintiffs to recover medical expenses, whether paid by insurance or not, it must be strictly construed. Steele v. Ft. Sanders Anesthesia Group, P.C., 897 S.W.2d 270, 282 (Tenn.Ct. App.1994). In Steele , the Court of Appeals rejected the defendant's argument that a plaintiff may not introduce evidence of medical expenses where the expenses were paid by an insurance plan purchased in part by the employee and in part by the employer. The court reasoned that the defendant's argument overlooked the statutory language that allows a plaintiff to recover medical expenses where the plaintiff has purchased insurance in whole or in part. Id. (citing Tenn.Code Ann. § 29-26-119). In sum, the court concluded that the plain language of Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-119 permits a plaintiff to introduce medical expenses when the plaintiff has paid part of the insurance premium. Steele, 897 S.W.2d at 282. In our view, the trial court properly applied Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-119 in denying the defendants' motion for a credit against the jury's verdict based on the payment received by the plaintiff under the Executive Insurance Plan. The trial court considered the language of the plan and the testimony of Nissan's head of human resources. The trial court found that the decedent had contributed to the plan and that the contributions were used in part for Nissan's purchase of insurance. Accordingly, the record supports the trial court's finding that the defendants were not entitled to a credit under the plain language of Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-119.