Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New York
Statute of limitations on medical bills in NY.
In February of 1998, my daughter (then a minor) received some medical services. Our insurance was to cover most of the costs, and we were to pay the remainder. We received the bill in May of 1998. We paid out everything that was not covered by insurance. We heard nothing from the hospital until very recently. In early July of this year, we received a letter from an attorney requesting that we pay over $3200 to the hospital for services rendered, along with interest from the date of the delinquent debt. When we did not pay the fee - because we paid out all the bills sent to us - we were served with a summons and complaint. Unfortunately, we no longer have bank statements from six years ago, so we cannot definitively prove that we did pay. However, I was wondering whether there is a statute of limitations on such an action. I know there is a 6 year statute of limitations on ordinary debt in New York, and I was not sure whether medical bills constitute an exception. As well, I was wondering whether it was lawful of the hospital to never remind us of an outstanding debt in the past six years. I would appreciate any advice you can provide in this matter. Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Statute of limitations on medical bills in NY.
There is no exception for medical services: the SOL is six years. What's going on here, most likely, is that the hospital has a weak accounting system; its records indicate there is an open balance, but it also recognized that it could never recover the balance. So it packaged all of its stale receivables and sold them off at around three cents on the dollar.
You shold not assume that a lawyer won't take the case. There is often a fair debt collection practices claim lurking in the background of these cases, and that makes the shootin' match worthwhile for lots of "neighborhood" law offices--the kind that usually handle personal injury cases. Once they recognize that the statute mandates an award of attorneys fees to the consumer (if s/he wins), many are they who will be happy to take the case.
The hospital probably wrote the balance off years ago and now (recently) acquired a new, "creative" CFO.
Good luck. If you can't get an attorney to handle it, at least go to the Courthouse (you're being sued in Civil Court, Kings County, no?) and ask the clerk to help you file a pro se answer to (a) deny you owe the money and (b) plead the statute of limitations.
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