In a ruling that will have a direct and immediate impact on the litigation and settlement of personal injury cases, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Pennsylvania has the right to assert liens to recover Medicaid payments.

"It defies common sense to conclude that Congress intended to protect the rights of Medicaid beneficiaries to recover medical costs that they never paid in the first place," U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas M. Hardiman wrote in Tristani v. Richman .