STATE EX REL. DEPT. OF HS v. Broyles

208 P.3d 519, 228 Or. App. 264
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 13, 2009
Docket07C11713, A136521
StatusPublished

This text of 208 P.3d 519 (STATE EX REL. DEPT. OF HS v. Broyles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
STATE EX REL. DEPT. OF HS v. Broyles, 208 P.3d 519, 228 Or. App. 264 (Or. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

208 P.3d 519 (2009)
228 Or. App. 264

STATE of Oregon, acting by and through the DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Keith L. BROYLES, in his capacity as personal representative of the Estate of Morris William Broyles, Defendant-Respondent.

07C11713, A136521.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted September 3, 2008.
Decided May 13, 2009.

*520 Karla H. Alderman, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for appellant. With her on the briefs were Hardy Myers, Attorney General, and Mary H. Williams, Solicitor General.

Philip T. Kelley, Silverton, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was Kelley & Kelley.

Before LANDAU, Presiding Judge, and BREWER, Chief Judge, and ORTEGA, Judge.

BREWER, C.J.

Plaintiff, the State of Oregon by and through the Department of Human Services (DHS), brought a claim against the estate of Keith Broyles pursuant to ORS 414.105(2) and ORS 411.795[1] to recover $80,113.95 in medical assistance payments that it made to Broyles between 1972 and 1991. Broyles died in 1991, but probate proceedings were not initiated until June 2006, when DHS filed its claim. Defendant, the personal representative of Broyles's estate, disallowed DHS's claim as untimely and required DHS to file a separate action against the estate. See ORS 115.155.[2] DHS initiated a proceeding in circuit court, and defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing that the claim was time barred. DHS's response was two-fold: (1) ORS 414.105 and ORS 411.795 do not contain a statute of limitations; rather the applicable statutes are ORS 115.008[3] and ORS 115.005(2)(a), and (2) DHS complied with ORS 115.005(2)(a) by presenting its claim to the personal representative within four months of the initiation of probate proceedings.[4]

The trial court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment, concluding that ORS *521 115.008 barred DHS's claim. DHS appeals and assigns error to the trial court's grant of defendant's motion for summary judgment. There are no disputed material questions of fact and, thus, the decisive issue is whether defendant was entitled to prevail as a matter of law. ORCP 47 C; Jones v. General Motors Corp., 325 Or. 404, 420, 939 P.2d 608 (1997). That question is controlled by an interpretation of the relevant statutes. State v. Gaines, 346 Or 160, 171-72, 206 P.3d 1042 (2009). We conclude that DHS's claim is timely. Accordingly, we reverse.

Recovery of public assistance paid on behalf of a decedent pursuant to ORS 414.105(2) is carried out through the procedures set out in the probate code, chapter 115 of the Oregon Revised Statutes. See Dept. of Human Resources v. Payne, 157 Or.App. 612, 617, 970 P.2d 266 (1998) ("The claim provisions of the probate code simply provide the procedures by which claims and ensuing actions against the estate * * * may be pursued."). Here, DHS is attempting to recover public assistance payments from Broyles's estate, which is subject to a probate proceeding; accordingly, DHS's claim is subject to the procedural requirements of the probate code.

Defendant argues that, nonetheless, DHS's claim before the circuit court constituted a separate "action" from the probate proceeding and, thus, is subject to the time limitations set out in ORS chapter 12 regarding actions. Defendant is mistaken. Even if DHS's claim before the circuit court constituted a separate action for purposes of the statutes of limitation,[5] the limitation periods in ORS chapter 12 are not applicable to such an action.

ORS 12.250 provides that, "[u]nless otherwise made applicable thereto, the limitations prescribed in this chapter shall not apply to actions brought in the name of the state, or any county, or other public corporation therein, or for its benefit." ORS 12.250 thus exempts actions brought in the name of the state from the limitations imposed in ORS chapter 12. As the Supreme Court held in Shasta View Irrigation Dist. v. Amoco Chemicals, 329 Or. 151, 158-59, 986 P.2d 536 (1999), ORS 12.250 refers only to "the limitations prescribed in this chapter" and, thus, "applies only to the limitations contained in ORS chapter 12" unless some other statute makes the exemption applicable outside that chapter. Defendant argues that ORS 115.008, by virtue of its "notwithstanding ORS 12.250" clause, operates to extend the time limitations in ORS chapter 12 to DHS's action here. We disagree. The import of the notwithstanding clause is that, despite the provision in ORS 12.250 that the limitations prescribed in ORS chapter 12 do not apply to actions brought by the state or a public entity, the time limitations set out in ORS chapter 115 are applicable to the state.

That notwithstanding clause was included in ORS 115.008 in response to our decision in Payne.[6] In Payne, we held that ORS 12.250 exempted the state from the 30-day limitation period set out in ORS 115.145(1).[7] We based that holding on our earlier decision in City of Medford v. Budge-McHugh Supply Co., 91 Or.App. 213, 754 P.2d 607, rev. den., 306 Or.

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Related

State v. Gaines
206 P.3d 1042 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2009)
Baker v. City of Lakeside
164 P.3d 259 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2007)
Rash v. McKinstry Co.
20 P.3d 197 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2001)
Shasta View Irrigation District v. Amoco Chemicals Corp.
986 P.2d 536 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1999)
State v. Webb
927 P.2d 79 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1996)
Rash v. McKinstry Co.
981 P.2d 343 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1999)
Jones v. General Motors Corp.
939 P.2d 608 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1997)
STATE, DEPT. OF HUMAN RESOURCES v. Payne
970 P.2d 266 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1998)
City of Medford v. Budge-McHugh Supply Co.
754 P.2d 607 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1988)
State ex rel. Department of Human Services v. Broyles
208 P.3d 519 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
208 P.3d 519, 228 Or. App. 264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-dept-of-hs-v-broyles-orctapp-2009.