Court Rules on Court Approval of Settlement that Minor Plaintiff Must Satisfy Medicaid Lien

In the case of M.M., a Minor v. The County of Carbon, No. 18-CV-2341 (C.P. Carbon Co. Dec. 29, 2021 Nanovic, J.), Judge Roger N. Nanovic addressed the issue of whether a minor Plaintiff was liable to pay a Department of Human Services/Medicaid lien arising out of a motor vehicle accident case in a matter where the Defendant had obtained a favorable ruling prior to trial on a Motion In Limine to exclude evidence at trial of all medical bills because it appeared that those medical bills were covered by a policy of insurance.

According to the Opinion, the case ultimately settled and the Plaintiffs then pursued court approval of the settlement.

In that Petition for Court Approval of the Settlement, the Plaintiff asserted that, given the Motion In Limine result, which confirmed that the Plaintiff allegedly could not introduce the Medicaid payments at trial and recover on the same, the Plaintiff was not liable to pay the Medicaid lien following the court’s approval of the settlement.  The Plaintiff argued that, as such, the Medicaid lien did not have to be considered in terms of the settlement of the case.

In the Opinion, Judge Nanovic disagreed with the Plaintiff’s position and found that the Medicaid payments were not paid under any policy of insurance and that, therefore, the lien must be paid back out of the Plaintiff’s settlement proceeds.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may click this LINK.


I send thanks to Attorney Gerard J. Geiger of the Stroudsburg, PA law firm of Neuman Williams, P.C. for bringing this case to my attention.

Source of image:  Photo by Fabian Blank on www.unsplash.com.