On April 11, 2019, the Virginia Supreme Court reaffirmed that since 1877 “Virginia has consistently recognized the collateral source rule in tort cases,” including as to insurance payments, “social security benefits, public and private person payments, unemployment and worker’s compensation benefits, vacation and sick leave allowances, and other payments made by employers to injured employees, both contractual and gratuitous.” Id. at 4-5. Indeed, in a case of first impression on certified question from Federal Court in Connecticut, it unanimously extended the collateral source rule to Virginia breach-of-contract actions. Id. at 8-11.
The ground-breaking case is Dominion Resource, Inc. v. Alstom Power, Inc., Record No. 181061. Justice Mims authored the 11-page opinion.
