Sullivan v. County of Suffolk

POOLER, Circuit Judge:

This appeal requires us to decide whether a Medicaid benefits recipient must satisfy a Medicaid lien before he establishes a supplemental needs trust for his own benefit. Brian Sullivan appeals from the decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Sey-bert, J.) ordering that he use the proceeds of his tort settlement to satisfy a $200,000 Suffolk County Department of Social Services (“DSS”) hen before he established a supplemental needs trust.1 Sullivan argues that he may transfer all of the settlement proceeds to a trust because DSS…