Maxwell-Jolly

This case presents one purely legal question: which statute of limitations applies when a person who received health care services funded by Medi-Cal during her or his lifetime dies with assets held in trust, and the State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) seeks to recover the Medi-Cal payments from the trustee and distributees of the trust. Appellants, the trustee and distributees of the trust, contend that the one-year statute of limitations in Code of Civil Procedure section 366.3 applies, 1 as it governs claims that arise “from a promise or agreement with a decedent to distribution from an estate or trust or under another instrument. . . .” (Id., subd. (a).) Respondent, the Director of the DHCS (Director), contends that the three-year statute in section 338, subdivision (a) applies, as it governs actions “upon a liability created by statute.” We conclude that the Director is correct, and thus affirm the summary judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The material facts are not in dispute. Decedent Bunnie R. Gregoire owned a home in Brisbane, which she transferred into a restated revocable trust on July 18, 1997. Under the terms of the trust, the assets…