Attorney Alexis and Mark Breyer Explain Liens in Arizona and How They Integrate With Arizona Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Law Claims
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by Arizona Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Attorneys - Mark and Alexis Breyer
Most people who are involved in a personal injury claim or wrongful death claim in Arizona, do not know that liens are a very significant part of a personal injury claim. In fact, most lawyers in Arizona who do not practice only personal injury law do not understand the lien issues in Arizona. The lien issues in Arizona are very complex and the law on liens is always changing. So what is a lien?
There are many types of liens that come into play in a personal injury claim or wrongful death claim in Arizona. A personal injury claim can include a car accident, slip and fall, motorcycle accident, construction accident, or any type of accident where a persona is hurt by the negligence of another individual. There are many different liens and they can come in different formats. Basically, a lien is a document that is filed by another person or entity indicating that person or entity is entitled to a portion of the injured party's final settlement.
The most common type of lien is a medical lien, where a doctor or hospital claims that they are owed money out of the settlement. Sometimes liens can be consensual. For instance, many of our clients do not have health insurance so they need to seek care from a doctor who will wait for payment. When a doctor agrees to treat a patient and wait for the settlement they will file a "lien" against the case for the amount of their medical bill. This type of lien is rarely contested because in most cases where this type of lien exists the doctor provided an excellent service to the client for the promise to be paid at a later date. We were work many doctors that offer this service.
On the other hand, many liens are not consensual. Sometimes a lien holder will demand extra payment. For instance, the law in Arizona allows hospitals to bill the difference between their total charges and what health insurance pays. In other words, the law allows a hospital, among others, to get paid not just from a victim's health insurance company but also to pursue extra money from the victim's settlement. This is called "balance billing."
For instance, for those of us who have health insurance, when we go to the hospital we know the hospital may bill $5,000.00 for that treatment, but the hospital may only be reimbursed $2,500.00 from our health insurance company. Do we owe the other $2,500.00? Of course, not. That is the deal that is made between our health insurance company and the medical provider.
However, the "powers that be" have decided that even though a hospital cannot come after you for the difference in most cases, if you are going to be given money for pain, suffering, anxiety, loss of enjoyment of life, and other things that you have personally suffered, the hospital gets to make a greater profit from your settlement. Many times for accident injury victims in Arizona this can amount to thousands of dollars.
The one caveat is that the law says the hospital must follow the specific language of the statute for the lien to be valid. Many times as personal injury lawyers, we contest these liens because even though the hospital is allowed to file such a lien, it has to be done according to the statute, and if hospital does not follow the statute, we are able to get the lien waived. Knowing these details and where the fight can be won can be a key component to getting a reasonable personal injury settlement to the deserving person, the victim, as opposed to the settlement going to increase hospital profits.
There are many hidden "liens like this that most people never know about until they disburse the proceeds of the settlement and get a call - sometimes even two years after the settlement! There are also other liens that need to be addressed in an injury claim, including Medicare liens, health insurance liens, and doctor's liens, which may exist even when they have accepted your health insurance.
If you have sustained a serious injury and have significant medical bills, it is vital that all these potential liens be addressed prior to settlement. If some health insurance adjuster or doctor notified you two months after the settlement and said they expected $50,000 out of your settlement, that could be financially devastating.
This is one area where an experienced personal injury and wrongful death attorney and can make a huge impact. An experienced attorney will fight whether the lien is valid, at all. If the lien is determined to be valid, an Arizona experienced personal injury attorney should be able to work with the lien holder to have them reduce their lien amount. Let's face it, the job of the lawyer is not just to get a fair settlement, but to make sure that the fair settlement makes it to the injury victim.
