Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1263diff_868c.pdf
Page Number: 9.0

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GALLARDO v. MARSTILLER 

Opinion of the Court 

C 
In 2008, a truck struck then-13-year-old petitioner Gia-
ninna Gallardo after she stepped off her school bus.  Gal-
lardo suffered catastrophic injuries and remains in a per-
sistent  vegetative  state.    Florida’s  Medicaid  agency  paid 
$862,688.77  to  cover  her  initial  medical  expenses,  after
WellCare of Florida, a private insurer, paid $21,499.30.  As 
a condition of receiving Medicaid assistance, Gallardo had
assigned Florida her right to recover from third parties.  Be-
cause  Gallardo  is  permanently  disabled,  Medicaid  contin-
ues to pay her medical expenses.

Gallardo,  through  her  parents,  sued  the  truck’s  owner
and driver, as well as the Lee County School Board, seeking 
compensation for past medical expenses, future medical ex-
penses,  lost  earnings, and  other  damages.    Although  Gal-
lardo sought over $20 million in damages, the litigation ul-
The 
timately  settled  for  $800,000—a  4%  recovery. 
settlement expressly designated $35,367.52 of that amount
as  compensation  for  past  medical  expenses—4%  of  the 
$884,188.07  paid  by  Medicaid  and  WellCare.    The  settle-
ment also recognized that “some portion of th[e] settlement
may represent compensation for future medical expenses,” 
App. 29, but did not specifically allocate any amount for fu-
ture medical expenses.

Under  Florida’s  statutory  formula,  the  State  was  pre-
sumptively  entitled  to  $300,000  of  Gallardo’s  settlement 
(37.5%  of  $800,000).  Gallardo,  citing  the  settlement’s  ex-
plicit allocation of only $35,367.52 as compensation for past 
medical expenses, asked Florida what amount it would ac-
cept to satisfy its Medicaid lien.  When Florida did not re-
spond, Gallardo put $300,000 in escrow and challenged the 
presumptive  allocation  in  an  administrative  proceeding. 
There,  Florida  defended  the  presumptive  allocation  be-
cause, in its view, it could seek reimbursement from settle-
ment payments for past and future medical expenses, and
so was not limited to recovering the portion Gallardo had