Plaintiff was injured in a bar brawl. His medical bills were paid in part by Medicare and the state’s Victims of Crime program, both of which acquired liens on plaintiff’s claim against the defendant brawlers and the defendant bar. The bar settled. Held, the trial court correctly enforced the settlement, requiring the bar to pay plaintiff the agreed settlement amount. Contrary to the bar’s argument, neither the settlement agreement nor state statutes required plaintiff to pay off the medical liens before becoming entitled to the settlement funds. Plaintiff had agreed to pay the liens, but not necessarily before receiving the settlement funds, as the settlement agreement might have if the bar was worried about its potential secondary liability if plaintiff failed to perform his promise.
A badly drafted settlement agreement did not condition plaintiff’s right to receive the settlement funds on plaintiff’s prior discharge of medical liens on his claim.