Third Circuit: Terry Klotz v. Celentano Stadtmauer and Wale

 

Federal equal credit law's prohibition on discrimination according to marital status  doesn't preempt the state's common law doctrine of necessities, which holds a medical bill to be valid against a spouse; the medical debt is an incidental credit, distant from the traditional credit-provision intent of the law.

Spouse's action against the medical entity for not fulfilling the common law requirement of demand doesn't state a claim, even in the absence of the facility's having made a demand on the estate of the patient, since public records indicate the lack of an estate.

Court did not abuse discretion in denying leave to amend, since there was no showing of claims falling outside the entitlement under the doctrine of necessities.


Terry Klotz v. Celentano Stadtmauer and Wale