In its October 31, 2017, opinion in Doe Run Resources Corp. v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins., the Missouri Supreme Court considered whether a general liability policy’s pollution exclusion barred coverage for alleged bodily harm caused by exposure to toxic emissions emanating from Doe Run’s lead production facilities in La Oroya, Peru. The exclusion removed coverage for “injury or damage or medical expenses that result from pollution at, on, in…or from any…protected person’s premises.” The policy defined “pollution” to mean “any actual, alleged ...
Since 2005, Missouri attorneys have struggled with the interpretation and application of Missouri’s collateral source rule as it related to evidence of a plaintiff’s medical treatment bills. Generally speaking, the collateral source rule bars a defendant from introducing evidence that part of a plaintiff’s damages were paid for by a party other than the defendant; i.e., the plaintiff’s insurance company or some other form of public benefit. In Missouri, however, that rule had been applied to allow plaintiffs to present evidence of the total amount billed by a health care ...
