Dentists,
Doctors, Hospitals



 



§507-4  Liens for services in personal
injury cases.  Whenever any person recovers judgment for damages for
personal injuries to oneself or to another, any hospital which has furnished
room, board, supplies, facilities, or accommodations to the injured person in
connection with the care, or treatment of such injuries, and any dentist,
doctor, physician, or surgeon who has treated the injured person for such
injuries, shall have a lien, subject to any common-law lien, on such judgment
or the proceeds thereof for the agreed or reasonable value of the services
performed or the agreed or reasonable value of the room, board, supplies,
facilities, or accommodations furnished, if, before satisfaction of judgment is
docketed, the dentist, doctor, physician, surgeon, or hospital files in the
office of the chief clerk of the circuit court of the circuit in which the
judgment was recovered, or, in the case of a judgment recovered in a district
court, in the office of the clerk of the district court of the circuit in which
judgment was recovered, a notice setting forth the agreed or reasonable value
of the services performed or the agreed or reasonable value of the room, board,
supplies, facilities, or accommodations furnished.  In the event the available
proceeds of the judgment are insufficient to satisfy in full the liens herein
provided, the proceeds shall, after all common-law liens have been satisfied in
full, be distributed pro rata between the lienors without any priority among
them.



If the judgment debtor so elects the judgment
debtor may pay the amount of the judgment to the chief clerk of the circuit or
clerk of the district court in which the judgment is rendered and thereby be
released from any further obligation to the judgment creditor and to the
lienor.  In the event the judgment debtor pays the amount of the judgment to
the clerk the lien shall attach to the sum so paid.



The liens may be enforced by action of the
lienor in the circuit court of the judicial circuit in which judgment was
rendered.  Jurisdiction is conferred upon the circuit courts to hear and
determine all actions brought or instituted to enforce and foreclose the liens,
and the proceedings had before the circuit court shall be conducted in the same
manner and form as ordinary foreclosure proceedings. [L 1939, c 251, §§1 to 3;
RL 1945, §§8757, 8758, 8759; RL 1955, §193-7; HRS §507-4; am L 1970, c 188,
§40; am L 1972, c 106, §1(a); gen ch 1985]



 



Cross References



 



  Deposit in court, see chapter 655.



 



Rules of Court



 



  Deposit in court, see HRCP rule 67.