Montgomery v. Long Island Railroad — 129 A.D.2d 690

Majority

p. 690

William J. Montgomery, Respondent, v Long Island Railroad Company, Appellant.

In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Balletta, J.), entered March 14, 1986, which is in favor of the plaintiff and against it in the principal sum of $106,000.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.

The trial court properly precluded the defendant from introducing evidence of income benefits that the plaintiff was

p. 691

receiving in the form of a pension from the defendant and a disability pension from the Railroad Retirement Board. Such "collateral sources” of income may not be considered by a jury in evaluating or in mitigation of a party’s claim for damages (see, e.g., Heåly v Rennert, 9 NY2d 202 , 206-208; Lehr v City of New York, 16 AD2d 702 ; see also, Eichel v New York Cent. Ry. Co., 375 US 253 , 254-256).

In addition, we do not believe that the jury’s award to the plaintiff of $60,000 for pain and suffering, $6,000 for past medical expenses, and $12,000 for future medical expenses should be set aside as excessive. They were not unreasonable in view of the evidence before the jury (see, e.g., Petosa v City of New York, 63 AD2d 1016 ). Bracken, J. P., Brown, Niehoff and Kooper, JJ., concur.

Cases cited

Healy v. Rennert 9 NY2d 202 N.Y. 1961-03-02 at 206-208 p. 691
Eichel v. New York Central Railroad 375 US 253 SCOTUS 1963-12-16 at 254-256 p. 691