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Andrews v. Samaritan Health System12/11/2001
s no contrary intent indicated." See Phoenix Control Sys., Inc. v. Ins. Co. of N. Am., 165 Ariz. 31, 34, 796 P.2d 463, 466 (1990). We find no contrary intent and apply the last antecedent rule to allow the hospitals' liens for all customary charges and to limit other providers and privately owned ambulance companies to liens in excess of $250.
Both the language and the legislative history of A.R.S. § 33-931 suggest a legislative intent to allow hospitals to assert medical liens regardless of the amount. In fact, the medical lien statute originally gave liens only to hospitals and without limitation on the amount. See 1988 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 280 § 2. When the legislature later amended the statute, it expanded lien rights to all private and governmental health care providers and private and governmental ambulance companies. Id. There is no indication that the legislature intended to limit liens by hospitals and, in fact, perfected hospital liens are given priority for payment over all other medical liens. See A.R.S. § 33-931(C).
For the above stated reasons, we decline to adopt an interpretation that reduces the lien rights the hospitals have always enjoyed under the lien statute and we hold that private hospitals are entitled to assert medical liens for "all customary charges" without regard to amount.
V. UNTIMELY RECORDING OF MEDICAL LIENS
Plaintiffs contend that the hospitals' medical liens were not perfected in a timely manner and are unenforceable and invalid. The medical lien is automatically granted by A.R.S. § 33-931 upon the care and treatment of a person injured by the negligence of a third party. To perfect a medical lien, a provider must file the lien within thirty days of the patient's discharge. A.R.S. § 33-932. The filing of a lien is constructive notice of the claim. Id. The purpose of A.R.S. § 33-932 is to give notice of medical lien rights and to determine priority among medical liens.
"Although Arizona lien statutes are remedial and are to be liberally construed, their provisions must be strictly followed." Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co. v. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment Sys., 166 Ariz. 514, 517, 803 P.2d 925, 928 (App. 1990). There is no Arizona case construing the medical lien recording statute. Plaintiffs urge us to adopt a rule of strict compliance as to the thirty-day deadline of the lien perfection statute and, to that end, cite cases requiring strict compliance with recording requirements to enforce medical liens. See, e.g., In re Woodward, 234 B.R. 519, 523-24 (N.D. Ok. 1999); In re Harris, 50 B.R. 157, 160-61 (E.D. Wis. 1985); Duke Univ. Med. Ctr. v. Hardy, 367 S.E.2d 6, 7 (N.C. App. 1988).
We decline to require strict compliance with A.R.S. § 33-932, the medical lien perfection statute, when the purpose of the statute is adequately served under the facts at issue. We agree with the proposition that
tatutes giving hospitals a lien against a patient's recovery from a tortfeasor causing the patient's injuries for which the hospital has rendered its services contain various requirements with respect to the time for filing liens and various notices of lien . . . such requirements should not be technically applied so as to defeat just hospital claims, and that such statutes are to be liberally construed in this respect. Public Health Trust, 509 So. 2d at 1233 (quoting 25 A.L.R.3rd 874, Section 5(b)).
This court has previously found that, in some situations, substantial compliance with a lien statute will suffice. See Lewis v. Midway Lumber, Inc., 114 Ariz. 426, 431, 561 P.2d 750, 755 (App. 1977) (addressing a mechanics lien). Lewis held that where the defect in recording "is mat
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