United States Third Circuit

In a suit seeking Medicaid benefits, an injunction preventing defendant-Department of Public Welfare from denying benefits is affirmed where: 1) equitable relief was appropriate where plaintiff would be barred by the Eleventh Amendment from seeking monetary damages from the state; 2) plaintiff was not required to exhaust his state-level administrative remedies before seeking federal relief; and 3) a non-revocable, non-transferrable annnuity purchased by plaintiff's wife did not fit the statutory definition of an "available resource" for purposes of calculating Medicaid eligibility.

Appellate Information

• Argued 03/04/2008
• Decided 11/12/2008
• Published 11/12/2008

Judges

• Before:  SCIRICA, Chief Judge, FISHER and ROTH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Third Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Thomas W. Corbett, Jr., Esquire, Attorney General, Howard G. Hopkirk, Esquire, Calvin R. Koons, Esquire (ARGUED), Senior Deputy Attorney General, John G. Knorr, III, Esquire, Chief Deputy Attorney General, Chief, Appellate Litigation Section, Harrisburg, PA, for Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Matthew J. Parker, Esquire (ARGUED), Marshall, Parker & Associates, Jersey Shore, PA, for Appellee., Shirley Berger Whitenack, Esquire, Schenck, Price, Smith & King, LLP, Morristown, NJ, Sharon Rivenson Mark, Esquire, Law Office of Sharon Rivenson Mark, P.C., Jersey City, NJ, for Amicus Appellee National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys New Jersey Chapter., Stephen H. Kaufman, Esquire, Eric J. Pelletier, Esquire, Offit Kurman, P.A., Owings Mills, MD, for Amicus Appellee Financial Life Insurance Company.