Opinion ID: 2831372
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cause of Action under Hospital Lien Statute

Text: Our conclusion that the Hospital’s charges have not been “paid,” and its lien not satisfied, logically leads to the issue of the Hospital’s proper remedy; specifically, whether a hospital may enforce its lien by directly pursuing the negligent third party or that party’s liability insurer. If it can, the Hospital may recover from State Farm. If it cannot, the Hospital has no cause of action against State Farm notwithstanding the invalidity of Gil’s and Hernandez’s releases of their causes of action against State Farm and its insured. In Baylor University Medical Center v. Borders, 581 S.W.2d 731, 733 (Tex. Civ. App.—Dallas 1979, writ ref’d n.r.e.), the court of appeals held that the Hospital Lien Statute gives hospitals a separate cause of action to enforce a hospital lien independent of the patient’s obligation to pay the bill. We have cited the Borders holding in discussing the general purpose of the Hospital Lien Statute, but have never been directly presented with or resolved the issue that was decided in that case. See Bashara, 685 S.W.2d at 309. The Hospital Lien Statute’s language, however, calls the Borders court’s conclusion into question. See Prairie View A&M Univ. v. Chatha, 381 S.W.3d 500, 507 (Tex. 2012) (“The plain language of a statute is the surest guide to the Legislature’s intent.”). The Hospital Lien Statute does not expressly create a cause of action against third parties to enforce a lien. But section 55.007 does delineate the consequence when a hospital with a valid lien 10 is not properly paid out of the proceeds of a patient’s settlement with a third party. Specifically, as discussed above, the statute invalidates the release of a cause of action “to which a lien under this chapter may attach,” i.e., the patient’s cause of action against the person whose negligence caused the accident that necessitated treatment. See Daughters of Charity Health Servs. of Waco v. Linnstaedter, 226 S.W.3d 409, 411 (Tex. 2007). As a result, the patient’s cause of action, previously settled, is revived, and the hospital retains its lien on that cause of action. TEX. PROP. CODE § 55.007(a). Because the Legislature specified a remedy for failure to properly satisfy a hospital lien, and did not include a concomitant cause of action for enforcement, we question the propriety of reading into the statute such an additional remedy. See Lee v. City of Houston, 807 S.W.2d 290, 294–95 (Tex. 1991) (“A court may not judicially amend a statute and add words that are not implicitly contained in the language of the statute.”). However, resolution of the issue would be improper, as it was not raised in the trial court as a ground for summary judgment and was not briefed in the court of appeals or in this Court, and therefore has not been preserved for our review. Joe v. Two Thirty Nine Joint Venture, 145 S.W.3d 150, 157 (Tex. 2004) (holding that a summary judgment may be affirmed “if any of the theories presented to the trial court and preserved for appellate review are meritorious”). Although counsel for the parties briefly addressed the issue at oral argument in response to questions from the Court, that discussion was insufficient to preserve for our review a ground that was not raised in State Farm’s summary judgment motion. See Stiles v. Resolution Trust Corp., 867 S.W.2d 24, 26 (Tex. 1993) (holding that summary judgment may not be affirmed on grounds not set out in the motion for summary judgment). Therefore, we do not reach this issue. 11