Publications: State Government Relations
A Day in the Life…

Every day is a new adventure at Stateside Associates. But in March 1997, we were given what may have been the most challenging assignment we have undertaken to date.

Judge John F. Grady, a federal judge in Illinois, had been asked to approve the settlement of a class action brought against drug manufacturers whose products allegedly infected thousands of hemophiliac patients with the AIDS virus. There was a problem, however. Many of the claimants were Medicaid recipients and the states are required to recoup their Medicaid payments from any amounts paid in settlement of personal injury claims. Judge Grady ruled that he would approve the settlement only if the 50 states waived their rights of recoupment.

Early in March we received a call from one of the manufacturers. In the next 90 days or so, could Stateside Associates obtain waivers from about 30 states? Of course we could. But how? We established a task force, divvied up the states, and got to work.
There were difficult threshold questions. We had to pinpoint the person in each state who had legal authority to settle. The Medicaid Director? A Secretary of Health? The Attorney General? The Governor? Was the same person politically empowered to make the call? If not, who was? And how best to reach these people? In short, we had to map the process that was most likely to produce a happy outcome in each state’s unique environment. We enlisted top-flight local representatives and set about it.

It wasn’t easy. The states’ responses varied greatly. Several of the very largest states signed at once while some of the smallest put us through bureaucratic wringers. In one state, a conversation with the Attorney General settled the matter; in another we were mired for weeks in the Attorney General’s Office. Some states quickly grasped the political implications of our request, others apparently didn’t. One state even decided that legislation was necessary.

In the end, we delivered releases from all of the assigned states as requested. The judge approved the settlement. Just another day at Stateside Associates.

Published 1998