Santa Barbara County v. Monical

Opinion

GUSTAFSON, J. Plaintiff County of Santa Barbara filed a complaint against defendant Marietta Mae Monical seeking reimbursement of $6,372.95, the value of hospital care and services rendered to defendant’s deceased mother. The complaint alleged that defendant is liable to plaintiff pursuant to section 17300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

That section provides: “All aid rendered by the county under this part shall be a charge against the spouse, parent, and adult child of the recipient thereof, and the county rendering aid shall be entitled to reimbursement [251]therefor. The board of supervisors of the county rendering aid shall determine if the spouse, parent, or adult child, or any of them, have financial ability to support or contribute to the support of the recipient and were pecuniarily able to support or contribute to the support of the recipient during the time aid was rendered. If in the opinion of the board of supervisors pecuniary ability existed when the aid was given, and exists when the matter comes before the board of supervisors, the board shall request the district attorney or other civil legal officer of the county granting aid to proceed against such responsible relative or relatives.

“Upon such request, the district attorney or other civil legal officer shall maintain an action on behalf of the county granting aid against the relative or relatives to recover for the county the aid rendered and to secure an order requiring the payment of any sums which may become due in the future.

“The board of supervisors shall, in the case of aid granted by institutional care, fix a reasonable charge therefor, which shall be the measure of reimbursement to the county, and the existence of the order fixing the charge shall constitute prima facie evidence of its reasonableness.”

The complaint alleged that the Board of Supervisors of Santa Barbara County determined that defendant had the financial ability to support or contribute to the support of her mother during the time aid was rendered and at the time when the matter came before the board of supervisors. It further alleged that the board of supervisors directed the county counsel to file suit against defendant.

Defendant noticed a motion for summary judgment pursuant to section 437c of the Code of Civil Procedure. The basis of the motion was that the board of supervisors did not determine that defendant had the financial ability to support or contribute to the support of her mother at the time it requested that suit be filed and at the time when aid was rendered to her mother. The evidence before the court on the hearing on the motion was that the Director of the Department of Resources and Collections of the County of Santa Barbara, whose duties as established by the board of supervisors included investigating the ability of persons liable under section 17300 of the Welfare and Institutions Code to pay, determined that defendant had the requisite ability to pay (based on the fact that she did make approximately 11 payments of $50 each and that she had received from her mother a gift of a note secured by a deed of trust of the face value of $7,000), that defendant although requested to do so had refused to make any other payments, that defendant had never been asked by the board of supervisors or by anyone else whether she had the financial ability