Benton County v. Wubbena

• Decision Date: 14 January 1981
• Citation: Benton County v. Wubbena, 300 N.W.2d 168 (Iowa 1981)
• Parties: BENTON COUNTY, Iowa, Appellee, v. Ella E. WUBBENA, as Fiduciary of the Conservatorship of Russell E. Frank, Appellant. 65048.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 168

300 N.W.2d 168

BENTON COUNTY, Iowa, Appellee, v. Ella E. WUBBENA, as Fiduciary of the Conservatorship of Russell E. Frank, Appellant.

65048.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Jan. 14, 1981.

Robert Himschoot of Himschoot & Meyer, Dysart, for appellant.

Mark Mossman, County Atty., for appellee.

Considered by LeGRAND, P. J., and UHLENHOPP, McCORMICK, LARSON and SCHULTZ, JJ.

McCORMICK, Justice.

This appeal concerns a county's right to be reimbursed from conservatorship assets for funds paid for the ward's care at the Woodward State Hospital-School. The trial court ordered reimbursement for the five-year period preceding the making of the claim. Upon the conservator's appeal, we affirm.

The ward is Russell E. Frank, born in 1941. The record shows he lived at home until 1970 when his mother's health began to fail. After evaluation at the mental health institute in Clarinda, he was admitted to Woodward from Benton County as a mentally retarded person on June 12, 1970. The trial court found he was admitted on a voluntary basis. That same year Russell's sister, Ella Wubbena, was appointed conservator.

From various sources, the conservatorship accumulated assets of approximately $53,500 by December 1970. In addition, the conservator received a monthly social security check of $229 for Russell. Alleging expenditures of $106,543.33 for Russell's care from June 12, 1970, through September 30, 1979, the county filed a claim in the conservatorship in December 1979, seeking reimbursement in that amount. The claim was subsequently increased to $113,348.24 to include payments through December 31, 1979. Resisting the claim, the conservator alleged liability was barred because of the failure of the board of supervisors to find the ward was able to pay for his care. She also alleged the bar of the five-year statute of limitations in section 614.1(4), The Code.

After trial, the court held that the statute of limitations barred the claim for expenditures prior to 1974. As to the subsequent five-year period, the court held that the county was entitled to reimbursement for the sums advanced, which totaled $86,717.44. Judgment was entered against the conservator for that amount, and this appeal followed.

The conservator raises two questions, but we find only one of them is material. She contends the trial court erred in finding her ward was voluntarily admitted to Woodward, and she alleges the court also erred in allowing the claim despite the county's failure to comply with statutory changes relating to liability for care of mental retardates in state institutions.

The conservator concedes that the outcome of this case cannot be affected by whether the initial admission to Woodward was voluntary. The issue of liability is the same whether the admission was voluntary or involuntary. Compare §§ 222.13, .31, and .78, The Code 1966, with §§ 222.13, .31(4), and .78, The Code 1979. Therefore we do not reach the conservator's first assignment of error.

The second assignment involves an issue of statutory interpretation. When the ward was admitted to Woodward in 1970, the applicable statutes did not require a finding concerning the ability to pay of the persons statutorily liable for the care. See §§ 222.13, .31, and .78, The Code 1966. The recipient of the care was among those liable under section 222.78.

In 1976, however, the legislature amended Code chapters 125, 222 and 230 to alter provisions relating to liability imposed for state institutional care of alcoholics, retarded persons, and the mentally ill. See 1976 Session, 66th G.A., ch. 1104. Sections 222.13 and 222.31 were changed by this amendment. Effective July 4, 1976, section 222.13 provided in relevant part:

Upon applying for admission of a person to a hospital-school, or a special unit, the board of supervisors shall make a full investigation into the financial circumstances of that person and those liable for his or her support under section 222.78, to determine whether or not any of them are able to pay the expenses arising out of the admission of the person to a hospital-school or special treatment unit. If the board finds that the person or those legally responsible for him or her are presently unable to pay such expenses, they shall direct that the expenses be paid by the county. The board may review its finding at any subsequent time while the person remains at the hospital-school, or is otherwise receiving care or treatment for which this chapter obligates the county to pay. If the board finds upon review that that person or those legally responsible for him or her are presently able to pay such expenses, that finding shall apply only to the charges so incurred during the period beginning on the date of the review and continuing thereafter, unless and until the board again changes its finding. If the board finds that the person or those legally responsible for him are able to pay the expenses, they shall direct that the charges be so paid to the extent required by section 222.78, and the county auditor shall be responsible for the collection thereof.

The amendment added a similar provision to section 222.31 for involuntary...