Abernathy v. Yeutter

• Decision Date: 18 August 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-4574-CV-C-5.,88-4574-CV-C-5.
• Citation: 725 F. Supp. 459
• Parties: Doris ABERNATHY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Clayton K. YEUTTER, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

725 F. Supp. 459

Doris ABERNATHY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Clayton K. YEUTTER, et al., Defendants.

No. 88-4574-CV-C-5.

United States District Court, W.D. Missouri, C.D.

August 18, 1989.

Joel Ferber, Frances Grecco, Molly A. Ryan and Ann Lever, Legal Aid of Eastern Missouri, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiffs

Kenneth C. Kohl, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendants.

Vernon Poschel, Asst. U.S. Atty., Kansas City, Mo., for Yeutter.

Jerry Short, Missouri Atty. General's Office, Jefferson City, Mo., for Reagen and Willmarth.

ORDER

SCOTT O. WRIGHT, Chief Judge.

Before this Court are cross-motions for summary judgment filed pursuant to Rule 56, Fed.R.Civ.P. Also before this Court is plaintiffs' request for class certification pursuant to Rule 23, Fed.R.Civ.P. Plaintiffs individually, or as representatives of a class, challenge defendants' method of computing food stamp over-issuance claims in cases where an overpayment of food stamps and cash assistance benefits has occurred during the same period of time and where such claims are the results of an administrative or inadvertent household error. Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment. For the reasons set out below, plaintiffs' request for class certification is granted, and summary judgment is entered in favor of defendants.

I. Class Certification

Plaintiffs seek certification of the following class of persons:

All past, present and future food stamp recipients in the State of Missouri whose households have incurred or will incur a food stamp over-issuance resulting from an inadvertent household error or an administrative error, and whose households also incurred or will incur a cash assistance overpayment for some or all of the same period of time included in the food stamp over-issuance period.

The Court has sufficient information to determine that certification is appropriate pursuant to Rule 23(a) and (b)(2), Fed.R. Civ.P.

Under Rule 23(a)(1), the proposed class must be so numerous that joinder is impracticable. As of May, 1988, the total number of food stamp households in the State of Missouri was 145,892. Of that number, 54,426 also received public assistance benefits. As a determination of the legality of defendants' method of computation of food stamp over-issuance claims will impact thousands of households which receive food stamps, the putative class is so large that joinder of all class members is impracticable. In addition to the sheer size of the class, joinder is impracticable because putative class members are low-income individuals who lack the financial capacity to bring individual actions. Therefore, the prerequisites of Rule 23(a)(1) are met.

The requirements of Rule 23(a)(2) are also met as there is a question of law common to the class. Plaintiffs claim that the defendants' policy of counting as income in food stamp over-issuance claims all cash assistance subject to recovery as an overpayment is violative of the Food Stamp Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, Article I of the United States Constitution, and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. By definition, all class members, who have incurred or will incur a food stamp over-issuance resulting from an inadvertent household error or an administrative error, will incur a cash assistance overpayment for some or all of the same period of time included in the food stamp over-issuance period. Under defendants' present policy, each class member will have the amount of the cash assistance overpayment included as income when the amount of her food stamp over-issuance is calculated. Thus, there are questions of law applicable to the class as a whole. And plaintiffs have demonstrated that all members of the class will have the same or similar grievance as the named plaintiffs. As a result, both 23(a)(2) and (3)—commonality and typicality requirements —are satisfied.

Finally, plaintiffs must demonstrate that they will fairly and adequately represent the interests of the class. Rule 23(a)(4), Fed.R.Civ.P. As no antagonism exists between the named plaintiffs and the class members they seek to represent, and plaintiffs' counsel is competent to conduct this litigation, the requirements of 23(a)(4) are satisfied.

Plaintiffs seek certification of a class under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Fed.R.Civ.P. This subsection authorizes certification of a class when the requirements of Rule 23(a) are met and:

The party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on a grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief with respect to the class as a whole.

Defendants have acted on grounds generally applicable to the plaintiff class. Plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief from this action. Therefore, this Court holds that class certification is appropriate. Accordingly, plaintiffs' class is defined as:

All past, present and future food stamp recipients in the State of Missouri whose households have incurred or will incur a food stamp over-issuance resulting from an inadvertent household error or an administrative error and whose households also incurred or will incur a cash assistance over-payment for some or all of the same period of time included in the food stamp over-issuance period.

II. Background

Congress established the food stamp program to improve the diets of low-income households by increasing their purchasing power. It is a national program; eligibility and benefit standards are set by federal statutes and regulations and are uniform throughout the country. See 7 U.S.C. §§ 2014, 2017 (1982). The Secretary of Agriculture ("the Secretary") is directed to "issue such regulations ... as the Secretary deems necessary or appropriate for the effective and efficient administration of the food stamp program." Id. § 2013(c). Like many other benefit programs, however, the food stamp program is administered by state and local agencies that are supervised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture ("USDA"). See Id. § 2020. In Missouri, the Division of Family Services (DFS) administers the Food Stamp program and is bound by federal and state regulations.

The Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program is authorized by the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 601 et seq. Its purpose is to provide financial assistance to families comprised of needy children who are deprived of parental support or care due to the death, continued absence from home, unemployment, or incapacity of a parent. 42 U.S.C. §§ 606(a), 607. In Missouri, the AFDC program is administered by the Missouri Division of Family Services pursuant to a plan adopted by the State in accordance with specific requirements set forth in 42 U.S.C. § 607(a).

A household's eligibility for food stamps is directly affected by the amount of federal public assistance benefits it receives under the AFDC program. The Food Stamp Act broadly defines household income as "income from whatever source," 7 U.S.C. § 2014(d), "excluding only" those items appearing on a list of "specific and limited" exclusions. "Under this system, assistance payments from federal or federally aided public assistance programs or state or local benefit programs are considered to be fully includable income unless the law providing for the payments contains language that `specifically excludes' those payments from consideration as income for the purpose of determining eligibility for the food stamp program." H.R.Rep. No. 788, 96th Cong., 2nd Sess., 121 reprinted in 1980 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 843, 954. The Act unequivocally includes AFDC payments as income:

(b) Definition of income. Household income shall mean all income from whatever source excluding only items specified in paragraph (c) of this section ... (2) Unearned income shall include, but not be limited to: (i) assistance payments from federal or federally aided public assistance programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)

7 C.F.R. § 273.9(b)(2)(i) (1987).

When making food stamp eligibility determinations, state agencies generally rely on the income information provided to them by applicant households. 7 U.S.C. § 2020(e)(2). In those cases where a household under-reports its total income—whether by fraud or inadvertence—the state agency is required to collect from the household any resulting over-issuance of food stamp benefits. 7 U.S.C. § 2022(b). Collection of such overpayments in nonfraud cases is limited to a ten percent reduction of the household's future monthly food stamp allotment or $10.00 per month, whichever is greater. 7 U.S.C. § 2022(b)(2)(A). The Act authorizes similar recoupment efforts when the over-issuance of benefits is attributable to administrative error on the part of the state agency. Id. The key calculation in this case is the method used by state agencies to assess the amount of a food stamp overpayment in those cases where there has been an over-payment of both AFDC benefits and food stamp benefits. The Secretary's regulation concerning over-issuance claims, 7 C.F.R. § 278.18, instructs state agencies to calculate and collect the difference between the food stamp allotment the household actually received and the allotment the household should have received:

(ii) If the household received a larger allotment than it was entitled to receive, the state agency shall establish a claim against the household equal to the difference between the allotment the household received and the allotment the household should have received.

7 C.F.R. § 278.18(c)(1)(ii) (1988).

In those cases where a household receives an over-issuance of both food stamps and AFDC benefits, the Secretary requires state agencies to apply the same formula— households are required to repay the difference between the food stamps they actually received and the amount of food stamps they should have received. The amount a household should have received...