Martinez v. Dep't of Health Care Servs.

*372In Arkansas Dept. of Health and Human Servs. v. Ahlborn (2006) 547 U.S. 268, 126 S.Ct. 1752, 164 L.Ed.2d 459 ( Ahlborn ), the Supreme Court held that a state's lien on a Medicaid recipient's tort settlement is limited to the recipient's medical costs.

Here we hold that where a tort settlement in a medical malpractice case does not allocate between medical and noneconomic costs, the noneconomic damages may not exceed $250,000, the maximum allowed under the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) ( Civ. Code, § 3333.2 ).

The California Department of Health Care Services (Department) moved…