Personal Injury Settlement Strategies: Navigating Medicaid's Anti-Lien Provisions

Mr. Downing received his BA from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his JD from Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law. He is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and South Carolina. After law school and bar passage, Mr. Downing began his career with Garretson Resolution Group (Garretson) a national claims administration and healthcare lien resolution company that serviced both single claimant and mass tort injury law firms and their clients. For four years, he monitored subject matter changes, managed internal compliance, and negotiated resolution of healthcare liens for the company’s Medicaid and Military lien resolution service areas. Mr. Downing then worked for a brief time in legislative affairs in North Carolina state government before a transition to regulatory compliance and private practice roles in the commercial real estate industry. He returned to the subrogation and healthcare lien industry in 2025 upon joining the law firm of Cattie & Gonzalez, P.L.L.C. as an associate attorney. Mr. Downing focuses his legal practice on Medicaid and Medicaid managed care lien resolution, preservation of Medicaid benefits, and Military (Veterans Affairs and TRICARE) recovery claims resolution.

Mr. Finley's national civil defense and trial practice focuses on serving businesses and insurers in high-value and complex litigation matters involving specialized tort, employment, and healthcare practice areas. Currently, he primarily represents clients in the transportation, technology, and healthcare sectors and has advised businesses across a variety of industries including construction, home services, insurance (life, health, property, and casualty), pharmaceuticals, real estate, retail, and waste management. Mr. Finley has substantial experience handling jury trials, appellate matters, mediations, and arbitration hearings throughout the country, having been admitted pro hac vice in multiple jurisdictions including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington D.C.