(Download) "Guardianship and Conservatorship Johnathan" by Supreme Court of Nebraska # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Guardianship and Conservatorship Johnathan
- Author : Supreme Court of Nebraska
- Release Date : January 28, 1994
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 76 KB
Description
Nebraska's hospital lien statute, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-401 (Reissue 1993), grants medical providers a statutory
lien. The lien attaches to any financial recovery that a patient may receive from a third party in the amount of the reasonable
value of medical services necessarily performed. The two cases before us have been consolidated upon appeal. The issue presented
in these cases is whether or not a hospital with a perfected lien is obligated to share pro rata in the patient's reasonable
costs of recovery from the third party. Appellants urge that the common fund doctrine applies. The common fund doctrine provides that a plaintiff's attorney, whose
efforts create a fund to which others also have a claim, is entitled to recover his fees and costs from the entirety of that
fund. Black's Law Dictionary 276 (6th ed. 1990). Appellees argue that the common fund doctrine does not apply because they
are creditors, rather than subrogees. As creditors, they are entitled to be paid in any event. Appellees also argue that because
there is no contractual relationship between the hospital and the attorney, the hospitals are not obligated to the attorney.
Section 52-401 is silent regarding medical providers' liability for attorney expenses. Appellants assert that West Neb. Gen.
Hosp. v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 239 Neb. 281, 475 N.W.2d 901 (1991), is dispositive of the issues before this court and requires
reversal of the lower courts' decisions. In both of these cases before us, the lower courts held that the medical provider
was not obligated to pay a pro rata portion of the patient's attorney fees and costs. The injured parties appealed to the
Nebraska Court of Appeals, and that court affirmed the lower courts' judgments in In re Guardianship & Conservatorship
of Bloomquist, 2 Neb. App. 756, 514 N.W.2d 656 (1994). We granted appellants' petitions for further review.