State of California v. Copus

• Citation: 158 Tex. 196,309 S.W.2d 227,67 A.L.R.2d 758
• Decision Date: 15 January 1958
• Docket Number: No. A-6363,A-6363
• Parties: , 67 A.L.R.2d 758 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Department of Mental Hygiene, Petitioner, v. Dale W. COPUS, Respondent.
• Court: Supreme Court of Texas

Page 227

309 S.W.2d 227

158 Tex. 196, 67 A.L.R.2d 758

STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Department of Mental Hygiene Petitioner, v. Dale W. COPUS, Respondent.

No. A-6363.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Jan. 15, 1958.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 19, 1958.

Edmund G. Brown, Atty Gen., Elizabeth Palmer, Deputy Atty. Gen., Chancellor & Wood, Dallas, for petitioner.

Pat Reed, Dallas, for respondent.

CULVER, Justice.

The State of California, petitioner, sued respondent, Dale W. Copus, now domiciled in Texas, for money expended by the State in the care, support and maintenance of his mother, an incompetent inmate of a state institution. A judgment for the full amount sued for was reversed and rendered by the Court of Civil Appeals. 301 S.W.2d 217. We concur in the holding of the Court of Civil Appeals that no recovery can be had for support furnished after respondent removed to and became domiciled in this state. But we disagree with the conclusion that the Texas two-year statute of limitation would apply to that portion of the claim arising prior to the removal of the respondent and that the maintenance of this action would be contrary to our public policy.

Prior to the 16th day of July, 1951, Copus was a resident citizen of the State of California. On that date he changed his domicile and residence to the State of Texas where he has continued to reside. For a number of years prior to the son's removal to Texas the mother had been continuously and was at the time of the filing of this suit a patient in one of the California state hospitals.

By California statute an adult son is legally obligated to reimburse the state for sums expended by the state in the care and maintenance of an indigent parent in a state institution. Additionally the statute provides (Section 345, Code of Civil Procedure) as follows: 'The limitations prescribed in this chapter apply to actions brought in the name of the State or county or for the benefit of the State or county, in the same manner as to actions by private parties, except that actions for the recovery of money due on account of the support of patients at State or county hospitals may be commenced at any time within four years after the accrual of the same.' Pursuant to the provisions of the Welfare and Institutions Code, § 6651, the Director of Mental Hygiene of California fixed the rate for the care and support of this incompetent mother at $40 per month as of the 1st day of July, 1944. This rate was continued until the 1st day of August, 1951, when the Director increased the rate to $90 per month. That rate was continued up to the time of the filing of this suit. The State of California sued respondent in the Texas court for the support of his mother at the rates prescribed for a period of four years prior to the bringing of this suit.

Three questions are presented: (1) Does the claim asserted by the State of California against Copus constitute a continuing obligation enforceable by the Texas courts for the mother's support and maintenance that accrued after Copus has removed to and become domiciled in Texas? (2) Does the Texas two-year statute of limitation, Vernon's Ann.Civ.St. art. 5526, apply to this cause of action rather than the law of California? (3) Is the enforcement of this claim contrary to the public policy of the State of Texas?

No clear cut answer to these questions can be found by a search of the Texas authorities, at least in so far as the first two are concerned, but a review of the decisions in this and other jurisdictions impels the conclusion that all three should be resolved in the negative.

The general rule rather universally recognized is that the statutes of a state ex proprio vigore have no extraterritorial effect. It must be concluded, therefore, that the California statute could not create a legal obligation upon a citizen of Texas who was not a citizen of California when the obligation arose, that is, at the time the mother became insitutionalized in California or at any time thereafter. We are aware of no rule of law that would make the obligation a continuing one after removal from California even though it attached to him while a resident of that state. Citizens of a state equally share the burdens and privileges of citizenship regardless of when or how that status is attained. To say that the support statute compelled liability for that period of time after the respondent moved to Texas would seem to deny to him equality with other citizens of the state.

Petitioner contends that the obligation statutorily imposed is quasi or constructively contractual. On that premise it invokes the universal rule that the validity and interpretation of a contract are to be determined according to the law of the state where the contract is made and if valid there it is likewise valid elsewhere. To support this premise petitioner relies on the decision in State v. Stone, Tex.Civ.App., 271 S.W.2d 741, holding a similar Texas support obligation to be quasi contractual and thus a legal charge against the estate of the deceased obligor. But the claim in the Stone case matured during the lifetime of the obligor, the only question being whether the debt could be collected after his death from the estate. The court did not hold that the obligation survived the father's death to the extent of making the estate liable for any care and maintenance furnished to the son after the father's death. We think that the debt here is not of such a contractual nature as to impose legal liability on the respondent after he ceased to be a citizen of California and became domiciled in Texas.

This cause of action in so far as it concerns the accruals after respondent's removal to Texas cannot be said to have arisen while respondent was under the legislative jurisdiction of California. Restatement Conflict of Laws, Sec. 457, puts it this way:

'A state has legislative jurisdiction to impose upon one person a duty to support another person if

(a) the person to be supported is domiciled within the state and the person to support is subject to the jurisdiction of the state, or

(b) the person to support is domiciled within the state although the person to be supported is not subject to the jurisdiction of the state, or

(c) both parties are subject to the jurisdiction of the state, though neither is domiciled there.'

In Berkley v. Berkley, Mo., 246 S.W.2d 804, 34 A.L.R.2d 1456, the wife domiciled in California sued her husband, domiciled in Missouri, to recover a sum expended for the support of their minor child who was in the care and custody of the mother. The parties, prior to their separation, had resided in and were citizens of California. The defendant sought to have the California law applied that would relieve him of this obligation. The court to the contrary, held that the law of Missouri would control in this action.

Yarborough v. Yarborough, 290 U.S. 202, 54 S.Ct. 181, 185, 78 L.Ed. 269, cited and relied upon in Berkley v. Berkley, supra, in passing upon a somewhat similar conflict decided:

'That the character and extent of the father's obligation, and the status of the minor, are determined ordinarily, not by the place of the minor's residence, but by the law of the father's domicile.'

The law thus announced would control in the situation we have here. The State of Texas does not expressly and unqualifiedly impose upon a son a duty to reimburse the State for moneys expended and charged by the State for the support of an indigent parent in state hospitals. Vernon's Civil Statutes, Art. 3196a, Section 2. We hold there can be no recovery by the State of California against respondent for support rendered to his parent after respondent removed from the State of California and became domiciled in this State.

Petitioner relies partly upon our uniform Reciprocal Enforcement Act, Article 2328b, and particlarly upon Section 7 thereof reading:

'Duties of support enforceable under this law are those imposed or imposable under the laws of any state where the alleged obligor was present during the period for which support is sought or where the obligee was present when the failure to support commenced, at the election of the obligee, * * *.'

But whether entitled to or not, the petitioner did not bring its suit under the provisions of this act nor comply therewith. We hold, therefore, that respondent is not liable for any sums accrued after his removal to this state.

As to the second question, namely, the applicability vel non of the Texas two-year statute of limitation, the general rule is that questions of substantive law are controlled by the laws of the state where the cause of action arose, but that matters of remedy and of procedure are governed by the laws of the state where the action is sought to be maintained. Home Ins. Co. v. Dick, Tex.Com.App., 15 S.W.2d 1028, reversed on other grounds 281 U.S. 397, 50 S.Ct. 338, 74 L.Ed. 926. To this rule there are exceptions.

The weight of authority favors the rule or exception to the foregoing general rule that where the statute creates a right and also incorporates a limitation upon the time within which the suit is to be brought, the limitation qualifies the right so that it becomes a part of the substantive law rather than procedural, and that unless suit is brought within the time allowed by statute no right of action can be maintained even though the law of the forum provides for a longer period of limitation. Stumberg Conflict of Laws, 2d.Ed. p. 150.

Some courts have gone further in holding that in such a situation the lex loci would prevail even though the time had elapsed under the limitation statute of the forum. This exception, as stated in 53 C.J.S. Limitation of Actions § 30, is as follows:

'Where by statute a right of action is given which did not exist by the common law, and the statute giving the right fixes the time within which the right may be enforced, the time so fixed becomes a limitation or condition on such right, and...