February 16, 2010

For months both plaintiffs' and defendants' camps have been buzzing about the new rules requiring settling parties in injury litigation to take steps to make sure the federal government is reimbursed for health care expenditures it has made over the sued-on injuries. On December 1 the federal government filed an action under the provisions, over a large and well-publicized 2003 Alabama settlement over allegations of toxic injury from a Monsanto (later Solutia) chemical plant. It chose to sue both the plaintiffs' and defendants' sides, along with insurers. [GullenLaw, Claims Spot, Business Insurance, Cuyler] According to MedVal, "the amended statute permits retroactive enforcement back to 1980, as if it had been part of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act as originally enacted." Earlier here, here, here, etc.