Kizer v. Hanna

I respectfully dissent. In my view, the Court of Appeal in Estate of Messner (1987) 190 Cal.App.3d 818 [235 Cal.Rptr. 495], correctly held that in enacting Welfare and Institutions Code section 14009.5 (section 14009.5), the Legislature did not intend to subject decedents’ estates to claims by the Department of Health Services (department) for reimbursement of amounts paid before June 28, 1981, the section’s effective date, for health care services rendered to the decedent.

“It is an established canon of interpretation that statutes are not to be given a retrospective operation unless it is…