Utah law allows the state to reimburse itself for Medicaid bills by taking settlement money awarded to Medicaid recipients. Plaintiffs' attorneys have long argued the law - which had been unclear about when the state must pay private attorney fees - left clients to recover little for debilitating, life-long injuries.

On Tuesday, the justices held that the state can't avoid paying a portion of an attorney's fees if the attorney asks to represent the state's interests and secures an award.

The ruling echoes major changes made to state law earlier this year in an amendment sponsored by state Sen. Sheldon L. Killpack, R-Syracuse.

A trial judge now will determine how many people might be reimbursed - possibly close to as many as 3,000 - as part of the class action lawsuit that prompted Tuesday's opinion, said the plaintiffs' attorney, Robert Sykes. He called the ruling a victory for Utahns.

"This is a huge benefit for the recipients," he said.

Assistant Attorney General Brent Burnett declined comment Tuesday.

The class-action suit challenging the state's Medicaid lien statute was brought by lead plaintiff Paul Houghton. The Davis County man was in his 20s in 1993, when a motorcycle accident caused a serious brain injury and left him unlikely to work again.

Although damages could have been calculated in the millions, the driver who hit him had only a $50,000 insurance policy. Utah officials took $36,000 of that to reimburse the state for Houghton's Medicaid bill, leaving the family $14,000.