SB 211 Utah Senate · 2026 General Session

Tort Amendments

SB 211 prevents defendants in personal injury lawsuits from using evidence about third-party payments (like insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid) to reduce compensation. It makes inadmissible any information about collateral sources, reduced medical bills, health care provider liens, or the plaintiff’s personal financial obligations for treatment. This directly affects plaintiffs who received medical care covered by insurance and defendants who previously tried to lower settlements based on pre-paid medical costs. The law requires courts to instruct juries not to consider these factors during trials.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 29, 2026 Last action Mar 7, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Substitute #1 · 4 edits
MODERATE
The bill was reorganized to create a new, standalone statute (78B-5-621) that strictly limits evidence regarding collateral sources in general civil tort cases, whereas the previous version primarily focused on malpractice actions. The new version adds a specific ban on defendants reducing settlement offers based on medical costs paid by third parties and prohibits plaintiffs from disclosing health care provider liens during the lawsuit.
Scope change
The scope expanded from applying mainly to health care malpractice cases to applying to all civil tort actions, with a specific exception for malpractice cases which are now governed by different rules within the same bill.
SCOPE

The bill's application was broadened from only malpractice actions against health care providers to include all civil tort actions, while creating a specific exception for malpractice cases.

REQUIREMENT

A new provision prevents defendants from reducing settlement offers or claim valuations based on the amount of medical care actually paid by third parties.

A new provision prohibits plaintiffs from being required to disclose the existence of health care provider liens during the course of the action.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'health care provider' was added to the new section to align with existing state definitions.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
24
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Mar 6, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate/ 3nd Reading Calendar to Rules [Senate Rules Committee]
upper
Feb 2, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate/ comm rpt/ substituted [Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee]
upper
Jan 30, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation [Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee]
upper
Jan 30, 2026
Committee
Senate/ to standing committee [Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee]
upper
Jan 29, 2026
Introduced
Senate/ 1st reading (Introduced)
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Kirk Cullimore
Kirk Cullimore
RRepublican
UT
19