Baker v. Sterling

Fuchsberg, J. (concurring).

These three cases all involve attempts by local Departments of Social Services to assert medical assistance liens pursuant to section 104-b of the Social Services Law against personal injury recoveries by infants. In each case, the fund recovered was inadequate to cover all of the claims asserted. In two of the cases, this inadequacy was so severe that, were all liens honored, the plaintiffs would be left with little or nothing in the way of recovery for their injuries. In the third case, while the settlement is more substantial, so also is the extent of the injury,…