Liens and Medical Bills

Liens and medical bills. Let’s say you settle the case. So, they’re gonna give you the release. Don’t promise to pay all. As a lawyer, don’t promise that you pay off the liens; it’s unethical; there’s a formal opinion on that. You can promise to protect and indemnify in case they are not paid. Your client can say they’re gonna pay the liens, but you as a lawyer cannot because your client may make an informed decision to rip off the lien holders and you can’t go against that, but most defense lawyers understand that. Everybody wants their money back these days, so your insurance company as well as the providers wanna get their money back, and what I tell clients is get as much money in the front end of the case as I can, but I also try to decrease the payouts as much as I can, so we have the lien holders, we call them up and we say, “Knock 50% off your bill because you have a free lawyer, go get the money. Knock a third off your bill.”

If it’s not an ERISA plan, medical providers have no lien at all; it’s an old case called Schweiss v Sisters of Mercy, because you can’t assign a personal injury case. It’s void under public policy in the state of Missouri, but most plans are ERISA plans, so you want to make sure they prove to you they’re an ERISA plan, show you the policy. Okay, they’re an ERISA plan, and they’re gonna say, “Well, we’re an ERISA plan, you have to go to federal court.” Well, that’s not really true because I file a motion to adjudicate liens all the time in state court where I am, and because the court is kind of imbued with some authority to resolve all liens, and there’s a lot of lien statutes that reference that, so most of the time I’ll get them to capitulate to that…

Gary Burger

Founder | Injury Attorney
Gary Burger has dedicated his career to standing up against bullies. The founder and principal attorney of Burger Law | St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer has helped hundreds of Missouri and Illinois individuals and families recover th …
Years of experience: 30 years
Location: St. Louis, MO

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