Thomas v. SENIOR AND DISABLED SERV. DIV.

878 P.2d 1081, 319 Or. 520
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 11, 1994
DocketCC 5096 CA A75479 SC S40999
StatusPublished

This text of 878 P.2d 1081 (Thomas v. SENIOR AND DISABLED SERV. DIV.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas v. SENIOR AND DISABLED SERV. DIV., 878 P.2d 1081, 319 Or. 520 (Or. 1994).

Opinion

878 P.2d 1081 (1994)
319 Or. 520

In the Matter of the Estate of Elizabeth Jane Thomas, Deceased.
Elizabeth Jane THOMAS, By and Through Agnes M. PETERSEN, Personal Representative of the Estate of Elizabeth Jane Thomas, Respondent on Review,
v.
STATE of Oregon, By and Through SENIOR AND DISABLED SERVICES DIVISION, Petitioner on Review.

CC 5096; CA A75479; SC S40999.

Supreme Court of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted May 12, 1994.
Resubmitted August 4, 1994.
Decided August 11, 1994.
Reconsideration Denied September 20, 1994.

Douglas F. Zier, Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, argued the cause on behalf of petitioner on review. With him on the petition were Theodore R. Kulongoski, Atty. Gen. and Virginia L. Linder, Sol. Gen., Salem.

Robert P. Van Natta, St. Helens, argued the cause on behalf of respondent on review.

*1082 Before CARSON, C.J., and GILLETTE, VAN HOOMISSEN, FADELEY, UNIS and GRABER, JJ.

UNIS, Justice.

Elizabeth Jane Thomas (decedent) died on October 21, 1981. On March 8, 1982, decedent's will was admitted into probate. The personal representative published the first notice to interested persons on March 18, 1982. The Adult and Family Services Division (the state) presented a claim against the estate to the personal representative. The claim was for $21,733.10 as reimbursement of medical assistance payments made on behalf of the decedent for her care. See ORS 414.105 (providing remedy). The state's claim did not include a demand for interest. The personal representative allowed the claim.

The only assets of the estate were a small cash balance and a land sale contract with a balance owing to the estate of $28,542.79 that provided periodic income. The liquid assets of the estate were insufficient to cover the state's entire claim. Beginning in 1982, the estate made periodic payments to the state. Between 1984 and 1990, the personal representative filed six annual accounts. In March 1986, the personal representative filed the second annual account. That account reported that the estate had made payments to the state totalling $9,000.00 and that the balance remaining on the state's claim was $12,733.10. The state wrote a letter to the personal representative asserting that the second annual account contained an error because it failed to

"take into consideration the fact that the claim of the [state] is entitled to 9% interest and therefore, a portion of the $9,000.00 paid to date, has been applied to interest, leaving the principal balance * * * at $17,902.11, rather than the amount shown on the [account] of $12,733.10."[1]

The personal representative's lawyer responded with a letter that acknowledged the state's concerns. The letter stated: "As you know, [the state's] claim did not include a claim for interest and there is no statutory authority for allowing any interest."

After nine years, the installments paid to the state totalled $21,733.10. In each annual account, the personal representative characterized money paid to the state as payments on the principal of the state's claim and did not mention interest.[2] The state, in its ledger tracking payments and in receipts issued to the personal representative, applied each payment to both principal and interest.

In November 1991, the personal representative filed the final account and petition for judgment of final distribution. The final account stated that "all of [the state's claim] had been paid." The state objected to the final account, claiming that it was entitled to interest on its claim from the time the claim was presented to the personal representative. The state asserted that a portion of the $21,733.10 paid to the state was properly allocated to interest. Consequently, the state contended that "the [s]tate's claim has not in fact been paid in full. There is a balance still due and owing as of June 11, 1991, in the approximate principal amount of *1083 $13,466.99, and accrued interest thereon of $511.38."

The trial court rejected the state's argument that it was entitled to interest, and it approved the final account. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's ruling. Thomas v. Senior and Disabled Services Div., 124 Or.App. 45, 860 P.2d 897 (1993). The Court of Appeals held that because the state had not filed a claim for interest during the claims period in 1982, the state was precluded from recovering any interest to which it may have been entitled: "Any claim that [the state] was entitled to interest while the debt was paid should have been presented [during the claims period] so that the personal representative could have allowed or disallowed it." Id. at 48, 860 P.2d 897.[3] We allowed the state's petition for review and now reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and the judgment of the circuit court.

In the absence of a contractual right to collect interest, the right to collect interest must be found in statutes. Mayer/Kleinknecht v. Bassett, 263 Or. 334, 348, 501 P.2d 782 (1972). The state's claim against the estate is based on ORS 414.105(2), which provides in part:

"Medical assistance pursuant to [state and federal medical assistance programs] paid on behalf of an individual who was 65 years of age or older when the individual received such assistance may be recovered from the estate * * *."

ORS 414.105(2) does not expressly provide for interest on a claim for reimbursement of medical assistance payments. Nor does any other provision of ORS chapter 414 provide a statutory right to interest on a claim against an estate for reimbursement of medical assistance payments.

Nevertheless, the lack of an express provision of interest in ORS 414.105(2) does not preclude the state from collecting interest. ORS 82.010(1) is the general interest statute and provides in part:

"The legal rate of interest for the following transactions, if the parties have not otherwise agreed to a rate of interest, is nine percent per annum and is payable on:
"(a) All moneys after they become due; but open accounts bear interest from the date of the last item thereof." (Emphasis added.)

ORS 82.010(1)(a) is unambiguous and provides a statutory right to interest on all moneys after they become "due."

We cannot identify any principled basis for excluding moneys "due" from an estate from the general statutory right to collect interest on all moneys after they become "due." Cf. In re Richter's Estate, 181 Or.

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Related

First Interstate Bank v. Haynes
699 P.2d 1168 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1985)
Mayer v. Bassett
501 P.2d 782 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1972)
United Farm Agency v. McFarland
411 P.2d 1017 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1966)
LITHIA LUMBER COMPANY v. Lamb
443 P.2d 647 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1968)
Portland General Electric Co. v. Bureau of Labor & Industries
859 P.2d 1143 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1993)
In Re Richter's Estate
182 P.2d 378 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1947)
Richter v. Ritchie
175 P.2d 997 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1947)
Thomas v. State ex rel. Senior & Disabled Services Division
878 P.2d 1081 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1994)
Balthrop v. Berryman
772 P.2d 955 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
878 P.2d 1081, 319 Or. 520, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-v-senior-and-disabled-serv-div-or-1994.