Hospital Lacks Claim Against Law Firm That Didn’t Pay Medical Lien From Recovery

A law firm that transferred an insurer’s settlement payment to its personal injury client without honoring a medical lien asserted by the hospital that treated the client is not liable to the hospital under the lien statute or at common law, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District Four, decided April 17 (Watertown Reg’l Med. Ctr., Inc. v. Gen. Cas. Ins. Co., 2014 BL 108098).

Counsel for a personal injury plaintiff merely used its trust account to transfer the settlement money from the alleged tortfeasor’s insurer to its client and therefore is not a “person making any payment” to ...