Sergeant Braxton Morgan was awarded $50,000 from an insurance company after a car accident.

MCG Health sued Morgan and put a lean on the money to pay for his $18,000 hospital bill.

Typically hospitals like MCG would submit a claim to the military insurance program TRICARE.

It covers medical care for active duty solders.

But MCG Health wants full payment directly from the settlement instead of the 40 percent it would get through TRICARE.

Harry Revell is Morgan’s attorney:

"It’s a matter of contract law and MCG being held to the bargain it makes in its commercially negotiated contracts."

MCG Health attorney David Morgan disagrees:

"We are hopeful that the ruling will be what has been the law in Georgia for over 52 years which has been that the hospitals can use leans in situations like this."

Both Richmond County courts and the Georgia Court of Appeals sided with Morgan.

The decision by the state's high court could affect how commercial insurance providers are able to collect in similar cases.

Tags: Augusta, Georgia Supreme Court, health insurance, MCG, MCG Health Inc., TRICARE, Segt. Braxton Morgan, David Hudson, Harry Revell