Allen A. Cap of Cap & Kudler filed suit against University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada resulting in a change in its policy concerning liens in automobile accident injury cases.
Las Vegas, NV – August 21, 2009 (PressReleasePivot) — University Medical Center in Las Vegas had adopted a new policy of asserting their Hospital Lien against a third-party tortfeasor’s liability coverage early in 2009, which probably resulted from the current economic crisis and UMC’s financial deficits as a county hospital.
By way of this policy, UMC considered the tortfeasor’s automobile liability policy as primary insurance coverage for payment of their hospital lien. UMC cited the new Medicare guidelines as authority to support their position on this new policy. The anticipated benefit to UMC under their new policy was an attempt by UMC to collect the full amount of their bill from the adverse liability carrier. In the event that the injured party had a health insurance which provided for a substantial provider discount, under UMC’s new policy, they could avoid the preferred provider discount and seek the full amount of their bill from the adverse liability insurance policy.
Allen Cap (http://www.capandkudler.com) notes that some states permit this type of recovery by statute and others allow this type of recovery by case law. Mr. Cap states, “There is no Nevada case addressing this issue. I have a lawsuit that is currently pending against UMC on this issue. I believe that this was the first and only case filed against UMC regarding their new policy. On July 31, 2009, I was advised by the District Attorney’s office that UMC has decided to drop this new policy. Therefore, I will be dismissing my declaratory relief action against UMC.”
Hopefully, this new development will establish better negotiation relationships between UMC and attorneys dealing with worst possible scenario personal injury claims, where the injury and medical bills are high and third party liability, uninsured motorists and underinsurance coverages are low.
Although this news, at this juncture, should not be considered to be legal precedent, it is certainly good news to all Las Vegas attorneys, and their clients, who currently have personal injury claims affected by this new policy. If you were considering filing suit against UMC on this hospital lien issue, you should probably check with UMC and the District Attorney’s office first, before you spend your time and money on filing and serving your complaint.
About Cap & Kudler:
Allen A. Cap and Donald C. Kudler have represented hundreds of victims of personal injury accidents who were injured as a result of automobile accidents, slip and fall accidents, medical malpractice and other injuries. Allen A. Cap and Donald C. Kudler also represent individuals and businesses in regards to contract, employment and other business related matters, both pre- and post-litigation. Visit Cap & Kudler’s web site, e-mail press@capandkudler.com or call 702-878-8778 for information.
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