Court Opinion

ID: 9459822
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:32:42.567656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:21.173947
License: Public Domain

HENRY J. FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
Permitting Blake to recover from the railroad the bulk of his hospital bills, which were paid by the railroad and not by him, seems to me shockingly unjust. The collateral source rule, which has come under increasing criticism, see Restatement of Torts 2d § 920A at 169 (Tent. Draft No. 19, March 30, 1973), does not apply to “payments made under an insurance policy which is maintained by the defendant, whether made under a liability provision or without regard to liability, as under a medical-payments clause.” Id. at 167. None of the cases cited is truly in point except Hall v. Minnesota Transfer Railway Co., 322 F. Supp. 92 (D.Minn.1971); that decision does not bind us, and I find its reasoning unpersuasive.
What constrains me nevertheless to concur is that here we are governed not by federal common law but by statute. Under 45 U.S.C. § 55 the railroad is entitled to set off only the premiums, not what the premiums bought. This was recognized as long ago as Bangor & Aroostook R. Co. v. Jones, 36 F.2d 886 (1 Cir. 1929). If the railroads wish to avoid the harsh result reached by the district court, they can accomplish this by specific provision in the collective bargaining agreement. See Thomas v. Humble Oil & Refining Co., 420 F.2d 793 (4 Cir. 1970). Short of this the remedy is for Congress — which would do still better to repeal the outmoded FELA and substitute a liberal plan of workmen’s compensation, as it did in 1927 for longshoremen and harbor workers, 33 U.S.C. §§ 901-50. See Friendly, Federal Jurisdiction: A General View 129-30 (1973).