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State v. Payne12/16/1998
9701-00277
Appeal from Circuit Court, Multnomah County. Joe D. Bailey, Judge pro tempore. Argued and submitted May 11, 1998.
Affirmed.
DEITS, C. J. Plaintiff, the State of Oregon, made a claim against the estate of Myrtle Payne, pursuant to ORS 414.105, to recover medical assistance payments that had been made to the decedent. Defendant personal representative disallowed the claim. Plaintiff then brought this action pursuant to ORS 115.145(1)(b) but did not do so within the 30-day period following the disallowance that ORS 115.145(1) prescribes. Defendant pleaded as an affirmative defense that the action is time-barred, to which plaintiff responded that it, as a governmental body, is not subject to statutes of limitations. Both parties moved for summary judgment. There are no disputed material questions of fact. The decisive issue is which party is correct, as a matter of law, as to whether ORS 115.145 bars plaintiff's action. The trial court agreed with plaintiff and granted its motion and denied defendant's. Defendant appeals, assigning error to the trial court's rulings on the summary judgment motions. We affirm.
ORS 115.145 provides:
"(1) If the personal representative disallows a claim in whole or in part, the claimant, within 30 days after the date of mailing or delivery of the notice of disallowance, may either:
"(a) File in the estate proceeding a request for summary determination of the claim by the probate court, with proof of service of a copy of the request upon the personal representative or the attorney for the personal representative; or
"(b) Commence a separate action against the personal representative on the claim in any court of competent jurisdiction. The action shall proceed and be tried as any other action.
"(2) If the claimant fails to either request a summary determination or commence a separate action as provided in subsection (1) of this section, the claim, to the extent disallowed by the personal representative, is barred.
"(3) In a proceeding for summary determination of a claim or in a separate action on a claim the claim shall be allowed or judgment entered on the claim in the full amount of the liability, if any, of the decedent to the claimant. However, the claim shall be paid only to the extent of the assets of the estate allocable to the payment of the claim pursuant to ORS 115.115 and 115.125."
ORS 12.250 provides:
"Unless 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."
Since its enactment in 1903, ORS 12.250 has been interpreted and applied according to its terms in decisions by the Supreme Court and this court. The most recent significant interpretation is in City of Medford v. Budge-McHugh Supply Co., 91 Or App 213, 754 P2d 607, rev den 306 Or 661 (1988), where we discussed the statute, the earlier case law construing it, and held that it applied to limitation provisions outside ORS chapter 12 as well as the provisions in that chapter.
Defendant argues that ORS 12.250 does not apply here, because ORS 115.145(1) is not a limitation statute of a kind that simply bars a remedy. Rather, she maintains, the time for bringing the action that the statute specifies is part of the right of action. She relies for that distinction on Lamb v. Young, 250 Or 228, 230-31, 441 P2d 616 (1968), where the court explained that, "unlike general statutes of limitations," which affect
"only the remedy, not the right, * * * some statutes stating t
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