§ 104-b. Liens for public assistance and care on claims and suits for
personal injuries. 1. If a recipient of public assistance and care shall
have a right of action, suit, claim, counterclaim or demand against
another on account of any personal injuries suffered by such recipient,
then the public welfare official for the public welfare district
providing such assistance and care shall have a lien for such amount as
may be fixed by the public welfare official not exceeding, however, the
total amount of such assistance and care furnished by such public
welfare official on and after the date when such injuries were incurred.
In all such cases, notice of the commencement of such an action shall be
served upon the public welfare district that has provided or is
providing such assistance and care, or upon the department of health.

The commissioner shall endeavor to ascertain whether such person, firm
or corporation alleged to be responsible for such injuries is insured
with a liability insurance company, as the case may be, and the name
thereof.

2. No such lien shall be effective, however, unless a written notice
containing the name and address of the injured recipient, the date and
place of the accident, and the name of the person, firm or corporation
alleged to be liable to the injured party for such injuries, together
with a brief statement of the nature of the lien, the amount claimed and
that a lien is claimed upon the said right of action, suit, claim,
counterclaim or demand by the public welfare official be served prior to
the payment of any moneys to such injured party, by certified with
return receipt or registered mail upon such person, firm or corporation,
and his or her, its or their attorney, if known, and upon any insurance
carrier which has insured such person, firm or corporation against such
liability. A copy of the notice of lien shall be mailed to such carrier
at least twenty days prior to the date on which such carrier makes a
payment to the injured party. Except as against such carrier, the
effectiveness of the lien against any other party shall not be impaired
by the failure to mail the required notice to such carrier. In addition,
a true copy of such notice shall be served by regular mail to the
welfare recipient and to his or her attorney, if known. Such mailing
shall be deemed to be effective, notwithstanding any inaccuracy or
omission, if the information contained therein shall be sufficient to
enable those to whom the notice is given to identify the injured
recipient and the occurrence upon which his or her claim for damages is
based.

3. Upon the service of the notice, as aforesaid, the local public
welfare official shall file a true copy thereof in the office of the
clerk of the county in which his office is located, and, thereupon the
lien of the public welfare official in the amount therein stated shall
attach to any verdict, decision, decree, judgment, award or final order
in any suit, action or proceeding in any court or administrative
tribunal of this state respecting such injuries, as well as the proceeds
of any settlement thereof, and the proceeds of any settlement of any
claim or demand respecting such injuries prior to suit or action.

4. An amended notice of lien may be served and filed by such public
welfare official in the same manner and subject to the provisions of
this section governing the notice of lien originally served and filed
pursuant to this section.

5. (a) The person, firm, corporation or insurance carrier, having
notice that a social services official has served and filed a notice of
lien, and intending to make payment on the personal injury claim upon
which the lien was filed, shall notify the social services official by
certified or registered mail, at least ten days prior to the date such
payment is proposed to be made, of the amount and date thereof.

(b) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this section, the
social services official shall have the right to serve and file by
certified or registered mail, within five days after receipt of such
notice, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, an amended notice of
lien to include the amount of public assistance and care furnished to
the recipient after the date such official served and filed the notice
of lien or the last previous amendment thereof.

(c) A person, firm, corporation or insurance carrier that fails to
give the notice required by paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall be
liable to the social services official to the same extent that it would
have been liable had such notice been given and the social services
official had filed the amended notice of lien provided for in paragraph
(b) of this subdivision.

6. Such lien may be enforced by action against those alleged to be
liable for such injuries, as aforesaid, by the local public welfare
official in any court of appropriate jurisdiction.

7. The aforesaid lien shall be valid and effective, when the notice
thereof and the statement are served and filed as aforesaid, and shall
continue until released and discharged by the local public welfare
official by an instrument in writing and filed in the said county
clerk's office, and no release, payment, discharge or satisfaction of
any such claim, demand, right of action, suit or counterclaim shall be
valid or effective against such lien.

8. The county clerk shall, at the expense of the county, provide a
suitable book with proper index, to be called the public welfare lien
docket, in which he shall enter the names of the public welfare official
and the recipient, the date and place of the accident and the name or
names of those alleged to be liable for such injuries, as aforesaid.

9. The provisions of this section to the contrary notwithstanding, the
lien herein created shall be subject and subordinate to the lien on the
amount recovered by verdict, report, decision, judgment, award or
decree, settlement or compromise, of any attorney or attorneys retained
by any such injured person to prosecute his claim for damages for
personal injuries, having or acquiring by virtue of such retainer a lien
on the cause of action of any such injured person, or on the verdict,
report, decision, judgment, decree made in, or any settlement or
compromise of, any such action or claim for damages for personal
injuries.

10. The provisions of this section to the contrary notwithstanding,
the lien herein created shall be subordinate to the lien of any hospital
claimed under and to the extent recognized by section one hundred
eighty-nine of the lien law, but only for treatment, care and
maintenance given, prior to or in excess of the public assistance and
care granted by the public welfare official.

11. The provisions of this section shall not be deemed to adversely
affect the right of a public welfare official who has taken an
assignment of the proceeds of any such right of action, suit, claim,
counterclaim or demand, to recover under such assignment the total
amount of assistance and care for which such assignment was made.

12. The provisions of this section to the contrary notwithstanding,
the lien herein created shall not apply with respect to any claim or
benefits payable to the recipients of any form of public assistance or
care, part of which is paid for by the government of the United States
or any agency thereof when, in the opinion of the commissioner, such
lien would jeopardize the continuation of such federal contribution.

13. The provisions of this section to the contrary notwithstanding,
the public welfare official may in his discretion release to the injured
person an amount not to exceed the cost of two years' maintenance from
the lien herein created.

14. Any inconsistent provision of this chapter or of any other law
notwithstanding, a social services official may not assert any claim
under any provision of this chapter to recover payments of public
assistance if such payments were reimbursed by child support
collections.

This section shall not apply to any claim or award which is or may be
allowed pursuant to the provisions of the workers' compensation law or
the volunteer firefighters' benefit law.