ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, CIVIL PROCEDURE, DEBT COLLECTION, GOVERNMENT BENEFITS, GOVERNMENT LAW, HEALTH LAW, INJURY AND TORT LAW

• Arkansas Dep't of Health & Human Servs. v. Ahlborn

CIVIL PROCEDURE, INJURY AND TORT LAW, PROBATE, TRUSTS & ESTATES

• Marshall v. Marshall

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE

• Holmes v. South Carolina

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, CIVIL PROCEDURE, DEBT COLLECTION, GOVERNMENT BENEFITS, GOVERNMENT LAW, HEALTH LAW, INJURY AND TORT LAW

Arkansas Dep't of Health & Human Servs. v. Ahlborn, No. 04–1506 (U.S.S.C. May 01, 2006)

Federal Medicaid law does not authorize a state's department of health services to assert a lien on a settlement in an amount exceeding the portion of the tort claimant's settlement constituting reimbursement for medical payments made, and a federal anti-lien provision affirmatively prohibits it from doing so. State third-party liability provisions are unenforceable insofar as they compel a different conclusion.

http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/041506.html

CIVIL PROCEDURE, INJURY AND TORT LAW, PROBATE, TRUSTS & ESTATES

Marshall v. Marshall, No. 04–1544 (U.S.S.C. May 01, 2006)

A determination by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the probate exception applied so as to bar petitioner-Anna Nicole Smith's tortious interference claim is reversed where the Ninth Circuit had no warrant from Congress, or from decisions of the Supreme Court, for its sweeping extension of the probate exception.

http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/041544.html

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE

Holmes v. South Carolina, No. 04–1327 (U.S.S.C. May 01, 2006)

A criminal defendant's federal constitutional rights are violated by an evidence rule under which the defendant may not introduce evidence of third-party guilt if the prosecution has introduced forensic evidence that, if believed, strongly supports a guilty verdict.

http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/041327.html