FILE - This June 2, 2011 file photo shows Mark Woodworth during hearing in Columbia, Mo. A Missouri judge ordered Woodworth freed on bond Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 while he awaits his third trial in the 1990 fatal shooting of a neighbor in her rural Missouri home. Woodworth, 38, has been serving a life sentence in the fatal shooting of Cathy Robertson. (AP Photo/Kelley McCall, File)
Disabled teen wins high court case over settlement
Published: 03:10:18 PM, Wed 20 March 2013 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has blocked North Carolina from trying to take more than $900,000 from a legal settlement won by the family of a 13-year-old girl who suffered devastating injuries during her birth.
The court ruled 6-3 Wednesday in favor of the family of the girl, identified only as E.M.A. She is severely disabled as a result of what her parents say was a botched delivery.
North Carolina has spent nearly $2 million for her medical care and when the family settled a malpractice lawsuit for $2.8 million, the state claimed a third of the settlement.
Writing for the court, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the state can't claim a share of the settlement as reimbursement for medical care without determining how much of the settlement is attributable to the care.
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