Lima

INTRODUCTION

As part of a proposed medical malpractice settlement that did not allocate the proceeds to categories of damages, plaintiff and appellant Guadalupe Lima (plaintiff) made a motion to extinguish a portion of a Medicaid lien asserted by the Department of Health Services (DHS). In mling on the motion to extinguish the lien, the trial court made findings, including the reasonableness of the amount of plaintiff’s total damages claimed and of the settlement, as well as the amount of plaintiff’s past medical expenses. Nevertheless, the trial court denied plaintiff’s motion to extinguish the DHS lien, without determining the portion of the settlement proceeds allocable to plaintiff’s past medical expenses. In doing so, the trial court failed to follow the federal requirements as enunciated in Arkansas Dept. of Health and Human Servs. v. Ahlborn (2006) 547 U.S. 268 [ 164 L.Ed.2d 459 , 126 S.Ct. 1752 ] (Ahlborn). Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s ruling on the amount of the Medicaid lien recovery and remand the matter with instructions to make the required allocation consistent with the trial court’s findings.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, a…