State Supreme Court to hear arguments on hospital bill issue

State’s highest court expected to address appeal in December

    Chase County Attorney Arlan Wine received some good news: the Nebraska Supreme Court accepted his petition for a further review of a case city and county officials across the state are watching.
    The case deals with a $436 bill from Chase County Community Hospital, and at the heart of the case is who’s responsible for costs.
    In August, the Nebraska Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the city of Imperial, which had challenged the district court decision favoring the county.
    Now, it’s in the hands of the state’s Supreme Court justices.
    According to Wine, it will be heard sometime during the week of Dec. 4-7.
    Wine said he thinks the Supreme Court justices decided to hear the case because there remain some serious questions that need to be clarified.
    “The statute at issue by specific terms refers to a person who is ‘lodged’ in jail,” Wine said this week.
    Wine said he also believes the Supreme Court took the case because they “want it resolved so there is a clear-cut authority” on such situations.
    In the December 2016 arrest from which the court challenges have arisen, Wine noted the prisoner was not yet lodged in the Chase County Jail when he was taken to the hospital to be examined, at the request of the county dispatcher on duty that night.
    That examination, which did clear him for incarceration, cost $436.
    Since then, the city and county have disagreed as to which entity should pay the bill.

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