Lovett v. Carrasco

In Lovett v. Carrasco (1998) 63 Cal. App. 4th 48, the Court of Appeal quoted extensively from Sweet in a case involving the (attempted) apportionment of attorney fees as between a tort plaintiff and a private hospital lien claimant. It had no difficulty holding that City and County of San Francisco v. Sweet (1995) applies to the latter situation as well, stating: "This i.e., the Sweet analysis applies no less to a private medical provider holding a contractual lien on a personal injury tort action than to a public entity provider holding a statutory lien. In both cases the lien claimant is a creditor of the plaintiff, who pursues the action for his or her own benefit rather than the benefit of his or her creditors." ( Id. at p. 56.)