Flowers v. County of Sacramento et al

Filing 42

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman on 1/3/2013 ORDERING that parties have an additional 60 days from the date of this order to submit dispositional documents.. (Waggoner, D)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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JEANETTE LUCILLE FLOWERS
a.k.a. EVANGELIST KIMMONS
Plaintiff,

No. 2:11-cv-00185 KJN

vs.
COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO;
et al.,

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Defendants.
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ORDER
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Plaintiff Jeannette Lucille Flowers a.k.a. Evangelist Kimmons (the “plaintiff”) is

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proceeding without counsel and in forma pauperis.1 The parties previously participated in an

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early settlement conference before the undersigned, and during the conference the parties agreed

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to settle this matter.

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Defendants have previously requested, and were granted, additional time to file

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dispositional documents, due to a delay in determining whether a lien is being asserted on the

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proceeds from the settlement. (Request, Dkt. No. 37.)

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Defendants have now renewed that same request and seek an additional 60 days in
which to file dispositional documents. (Request, Dkt. No. 41.) Defendants explain that:

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This case proceeds before the undersigned as a result of the parties’ consent to the
jurisdiction of the magistrate judge. (Order, May 22, 2012, Dkt. No. 26.)
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In the interest of complying with the parties’ Medicare
Secondary Payer obligations pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1395 et
seq., plaintiff was given forms by defendants’ representatives at
the Early Settlement Conference authorizing defendants’
Medicare Compliance Specialists, Gould & Lamb, LLC, to
contact Medicare in order to determine the existence of a lien.

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Gould & Lamb submitted the necessary documentation to the
Medicare Secondary Payment Recovery Contractor ("MSPRC")
in September 2012 in order to determine whether a lien is being
asserted on the settlement proceeds. Defense Counsel and
George Hills Company, COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO’s Third
Party Claims Administrator, have followed up with Gould &
Lamb several times in the past few weeks to determine the
status of a Medicare lien. Unfortunately, MSPRC has not yet
responded to Gould & Lamb’s request for lien information.
Defense counsel has been informed that MSPRC typically takes
65 days to respond to requests for lien information, and
anticipates that a lien amount will be determined at any time.
Plaintiff indicated that she would contact Medicare and request
a final lien letter, but to defense counsel’s knowledge, plaintiff
has not received anything from MSPRC.
Defendants submit that the delay in receiving lien information
from MSPRC is a widespread problem, as indicated by the
passing of the Smart Act (HR 1845) in the U.S. House of
Representatives this past week. The Smart Act is designed to
improve the efficiency of the Medicare Secondary Payer system
by requiring the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to
streamline its process, reducing costly delays in settling claims.
(Request, Dkt. No. 41 at 2-3.) Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
Pursuant to defendants’ request (Dkt. No. 41), and finding good cause therefore,

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the undersigned hereby gives the parties an additional 60 days from the date of this order to

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submit dispositional documents.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: January 3, 2013
_____________________________________
KENDALL J. NEWMAN
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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