Dealing with Medicare, Medicaid and with ERISA plans can be extremely frustrating for personal injury attorneys. Lawyers that perform services pursuant to a retainer agreement on a contingency basis are forced to spend many months in the post settlement stages fighting liens that generate no revenue to the firm. Some lawyers and firms choose to outsource these problems to lien counsel experts, however in many instances a lawyer is tempted to tell the collection companies like Rawlings to “Take a Hike” on their ERISA lien. The good news is that now NY lawyers can do that when it comes to fully funded ERISA liens!
On July 31, 2014, The U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit issued a decision reversing the Eastern District Court in Wurtz v. The Rawlings Company, that states that New York General Obligation Law 5-335 shall not be pre-empted by the Federal ERISA statute. So as a result, lawyer no longer need to fight with collection companies when it comes to Fully Funded ERISA Plans. [Read more…]
