Civil Procedure — hospital liens

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Civil

Civil Procedure — hospital liens

Under the hospital lien statute, sec. 779.80, an attorney or law firm who receives and then distributes a settlement payment on a personal injury claim is not, under the lien statute’s language, a “person making any payment to [the] injured person … as compensation for the injuries sustained.”

“Notice provisions in the statute support our interpretation of the statute as applied to both General Casualty and Hupy. Specifically, the statute requires that ‘the hospital’ provide notice of the lien to the ‘injured person,’ and to ‘the person alleged to be liable’ and that person’s ‘insurer’ if their names and addresses may be ascertainable by reasonable diligence. WIS. STAT. §779.80(3)(b) and (c). In contrast, there is no notice requirement for an injured person’s attorney. Here, it appears undisputed that the Medical Center was required to, and did, provide notice of the lien by mail to McGuire and to General Casualty, but not to Hupy.”

Reversed; Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2013AP2324 & 2013AP2511 Watertown Regional Medical Center, Inc., v. General Casualty Ins. Co.

Dist. IV, Jefferson County, Wambach, J., Lundsten, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Derry, Brandon D., Madison; Pirt Meyer, Amanda Andrea, Madison; For Respondent: King, Peter B., Fontana; Pliner, David J., Madison