Yoo

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Sandra Shewry, the former Director of the State Department of Health Care Services (the Department or DHCS), appeals from the order granting the petition for writ of mandate filed by petitioners Chang Ho Yoo (Yoo), a pharmacist doing business as PCH Medical Pharmacy (PCH) in Long Beach, California, and CNN PharmaCare, Inc. (CNN), of which Yoo is the majority owner. The question presented for resolution is as follows: When the Department suspects fraud and willful misrepresentation on the part of a Medi-Cal provider and withholds Medi-Cal payments from that provider pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 14107.11, is the Department required to pay interest on the amount of withheld payments that are later disbursed to the provider after the Department has finished its investigation, where the Department delays unreasonably in making the disbursement? In granting the petition, the court answered this question in the affirmative, concluding that the payment of interest was compelled by Civil Code section 3287.

On appeal, the Department contends that section 14107.11 does not require or permit the payment of interest on Medi-Cal payments…