Newton

Plaintiff and appellant Gayla Newton, a medically indigent adult (MIA), received medical treatment for injuries she sustained in a slip-and-fall accident at home. San Bernardino County Medical Center, a hospital operated by real party in interest and respondent, County of San Bernardino (the County), provided the medical care. Plaintiff sued defendant LaPerle Clemons for negligence, on premises liability and other theories. Defendant’s insurance carrier ultimately agreed to pay the policy limits of $100,000, but issued the insurance proceeds in two checks, one of which was jointly payable to the County, in satisfaction of the County’s asserted lien for reimbursement of medical services. Plaintiff moved to set aside her dismissal of the Clemons action, seeking an order expunging the County’s hospital lien, in whole or in part. The trial court denied plaintiff’s motion to expunge the County’s lien. Plaintiff now appeals. Although we do not agree with plaintiff that the County’s recovery should be limited to approximately $1,000 of its $58,000 claim, we do conclude that the court should have expunged a portion of the County’s lien claim under Civil Code section 3045.1 et…