California Codes

Cal. Welfare and Institutions Code § 14124.71 (2026)

✓ current as of May 2026

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(a)When benefits are provided or will be provided to a beneficiary under this chapter because of an injury for which another party is liable, or for which a carrier is liable in accordance with the provisions of any policy of insurance issued pursuant to Section 11580.2 of the Insurance Code, the director shall have a right to recover from such a party or carrier the reasonable value of benefits so provided. The Attorney General, or counsel for the fiscal intermediary under the Medi-Cal program with the permission of the Attorney General, or a contractor pursuant to Section 14124.80, or a county through its civil legal adviser, may, to enforce such right, institute and prosecute legal proceedings against the third party or carrier who may be liable for the injury in an appropriate court, either in the name of the director or in the name of the injured person, his guardian, conservator, personal representative, estate, or survivors.

(b)The director may:

(1)Compromise, or settle and release any such claim in whole or in part with any such party or carrier, or

(2)Waive any such claim, in whole or in part, for the convenience of the director, or if the director determines that collection would result in undue hardship upon the person who suffered the injury, or in a wrongful death action upon the heirs of the deceased.

(c)No action taken on behalf of the director pursuant to this section or any judgment rendered in such action shall be a bar to any action upon the claim or cause of action of the beneficiary, his guardian, conservator, personal representative, estate, dependents, or survivors against the third party who may be liable for the injury, or shall operate to deny to the beneficiary the recovery for that portion of any damages not covered hereunder.

(d)The cost of a service provided to an eligible developmentally disabled Medi-Cal beneficiary under Section 14132.44 may be recovered by the director from a liable third party or carrier.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases, 1982–2000 · leading case: Hernandez v. California Hosp. Med. Ctr., 93 Cal. Rptr. 2d 97 (Cal. Ct. App. 2000).

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Hernandez v. California Hosp. Med. Ctr., 93 Cal. Rptr. 2d 97 (Cal. Ct. App. 2000). “Such payments fall outside the scope of Civil Code section 3333.1 and recovery of Medi-Cal payments may be sought against either the successful plaintiff through the Medi-Cal lien procedure or in a direct action against the third party tortfeasor.”

Brown v. Stewart, 129 Cal. App. 3d 331 (Cal. Ct. App. 1982). “1 WITH OTHER RELEVANT STATUTORY ENACTMENTS Courts should construe a statute with reference to the whole system of law of which it is a part so that all may be harmonized and have effect *341 Welfare and Institutions Code section 14124.”

Kizer v. Hirata, 93 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8940 (Cal. Ct. App. 1993). “1 From the comments made by the court when respondent’s motion for nonsuit was argued, it is clear the court became bogged down with the *844 language of a single section, Welfare and Institutions Code section 14124.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.