Alexander v. Polk
| Decision Date | 17 December 1984 |
| Docket Number | 83-1832,Nos. 83-1811,No. 83-1811,No. 83-1832,83-1811,s. 83-1811 |
| Citation | 750 F.2d 250 |
| Parties | Luvinia ALEXANDER, for herself and as guardian ad litem for Sharifa Alexander; Sylvia Bey, for herself and as guardian ad litem for Trustin Bey; Irene Burkett, for herself and as guardian ad litem for Robert Burkett; Andrea Carey, for herself and as guardian ad litem for Leslie Bonita Rex; Sheila Mitchell, for herself and as guardian ad litem for Tamika Mitchell; and Elizabeth Truitt, for herself and as guardian ad litem for Leon Truitt, Appellants in, v. Louis POLK, M.D., Acting Director of the Philadelphia Department of Health, individually and in his official capacity; Pearl Pitt, M.D., WIC Coordinator, Division of Maternal and Child Health, Philadelphia Department of Health, individually and in her official capacity; David Soricelli, D.D.S., Director of Community Health Services, individually and in his official capacity; Christine Kniszley, M.D., Director of Maternal and Child Health Programs, individually and in her official capacity; Barry Dickman, Administrator of the WIC Program, individually and in her official capacity; Jack Burkhardt, Administrator of the Division of Maternal and Child Health of the Philadelphia Department of Health, individually and in his official capacity; the Department of Health of the City of Philadelphia; Leonard Bachman, M.D., Secretary of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, individually and in his official capacity; Mary Ann Britton, R.D., State WIC Coordinator, individually and in her official capacity; the Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellants in |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Richard Weishaupt (argued), Niles Schore, Community Legal Services, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants in No. 83-1811 and appellees in No. 83-1832.
Pamela L. Perry, Deputy City Sol., Philadelphia, Pa., for City appellants/appellees.
David H. Ward, Ruth E. Granfors, Asst. Counsels, Ruth M. Siegel, Chief Counsel (argued), Harrisburg, Pa., for Commonwealth appellants/appellees.
Ralph J. Teti, Philadelphia, Pa. (argued), for appellee in No. 83-1811 and appellants in No. 83-1832.
Before SEITZ, GIBBONS and HUNTER, Circuit Judges.
This class action challenges the administration of the Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1786 (West 1978), 1 by the City of Philadelphia in 1977 and 1978. The plaintiffs are a class of four-year-old children terminated from the WIC program without notice of the opportunity for a hearing, and a single individual, Andrea Carey, terminated by reason of her alleged use of abusive language to a grocery store clerk. The defendants are the City of Philadelphia, a number of its officials named in their individual and official capacities, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The original complaint, filed in August of 1978, sought injunctive relief and damages against the City and its officials arising from the City's termination of benefits for four-year-old children eligible for the WIC program. In October of 1978 the district court denied plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunctive relief. Alexander v. Polk, 459 F.Supp. 883 (E.D.Pa.1978). Thereafter plaintiffs filed an amended complaint adding the Commonwealth as a defendant and seeking the publication of certain "fair-hearing" regulations. The Commonwealth published these regulations in September of 1980. 10 Pa.Bull. 3586 (Sept. 6, 1980). Plaintiffs concede that this publication rendered any claim for relief against the Commonwealth moot. Br. at 2. The City discontinued the policy of terminating children from the WIC program in November of 1978, thereby rendering any claim for injunctive relief against the City moot. Thus only the plaintiffs' claim for damages against the City survives. 2
In September of 1983 the district court held in favor of the plaintiffs on liability, concluding that the City violated the 1978 WIC regulations and due process by failing to provide notice of the right to a "fair hearing." Alexander v. Polk, 572 F.Supp. 605 (E.D.Pa.1983). The court reasoned, however, that only one class member, four-year-old Leon Truitt, would have prevailed at such a hearing. Accordingly, it ordered compensatory damages of $87.75 on behalf of Truitt, and nominal damages on behalf of Andrea Carey and the plaintiff class. Id. at 623. In the appeal at No. 83-1811, Carey and the class appeal from the award of nominal damages. In the appeal at No 83-1832, the City of Philadelphia appeals from the damage award in favor of Leon Truitt and the judgment of liability in favor of the class. In No. 83-1811 we reverse and remand for further proceedings on behalf of the class but not Carey. In No. 83-1832 we affirm.
As enacted in 1972, the WIC program provided cash grants to participating states for the purpose of making "supplemental foods" available to children and pregnant or lactating women faced with the risk of malnutrition because of inadequate income. 3 Regulations promulgated by the Department of Agriculture required that health departments of participating states administer funds through local agencies, 7 C.F.R. Secs. 246.4, 246.6 (1978), and "enter into a signed written agreement with each local agency setting forth the local agency's responsibilities under the Program as prescribed in this part," 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.6(a) (1978). Between 1974 and February of 1979, the Commonwealth Department of Health administered the WIC Program in Pennsylvania. The local agency responsible for operating the Program in Philadelphia was the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
The WIC regulations vested general administrative responsibility for the Program in the state agencies. 4 In particular, the states were charged with maintaining a "financial management system which provides accurate, current and complete disclosure of the financial status of the Program ...." 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.11(a) (1978). All "[p]rogram funds control, including, but not limited to, comparisons of actual Program expenditures with budgeted amounts," was the obligation of the states. 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.11(e) (1978). Responsibility for maintaining records identifying "the source and application of funds expended for Program activities" was also that of the states. 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.11(c) (1978).
Individual placement decisions, in contrast, were to be made by a "competent professional authority on the staff of the local agency." 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.7(b)(2)(ii) (1978). The eligibility of each program recipient was to be established by local agencies at an initial "certification visit" and reestablished at six-month intervals. 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.7(d) (1978). During these visits, local agency staff members were to ensure "that those persons in greatest nutritional need are placed in the Program first." 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.7(b)(2)(ii) (1978). In the event that the Program reached its maximum participation level, local agencies were to apply a system of priorities. 5 A recipient could be removed from the Program at a "certification visit if that person, in the competent professional's judgment, [was] no longer believed to be in nutritional need, or if there [were] potential recipients waiting who, according to the priority system, [were] in greater nutritional need." 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.7(c) (1978).
Recipients removed from the program were entitled to a hearing at which the grounds for removal could be challenged. Section 246.24 directed state agencies to establish a hearing procedure for this purpose, 6 and to inform recipients of the right to a hearing during the initial certification visit and in writing at the time of any determination of "ineligibility" for benefits. 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.24(a) (1978). During the pendency of any such hearings, recipients participating in the Program were to "continue to receive Program benefits until a decision is reached in the fair hearing proceedings." 7 C.F.R. Sec. 246.24(b) (1978).
In its day-to-day operation, the Program functioned as follows:
A potential WIC recipient undergoes a health assessment by a competent professional authority, who evaluates the applicant's nutritional status and makes the determination of eligibility. The certified WIC recipient then receives a prescription for the appropriate food package. The prescription is in the form of a voucher, to which is attached a check drawn on the Commonwealth's account. The recipient designates, from the list of vendors who have agreed with the City to supply the required foods at a specific price, the grocery store at which she will exchange the voucher for the food prescribed. The recipient has thirty days from issuance to cash in the voucher, and the vendor then has sixty days from the expiration date of the voucher to present the check for payment. The checks paid in a given month are reported through the state's data processing system to the Department, which relays that information to the local agency.
459 F.Supp. at 887-88 (footnotes and citations omitted).
On October 1, 1977, the Commonwealth entered into a written agreement with the Philadelphia Department of Health. App. at 249-62. This agreement provided as a "guideline" a monthly caseload allocation of 15,000 cases, subject to increase if additional Program funds were available. 7 Monthly food expenditures were limited to $300,000. 8 Thus the contract anticipated an average voucher cost of $20.00 per month. The agreement further provided that the City would "ensure that project staff and program participants are informed of the rights of participants and applicants and of procedures for Fair Hearings approved by the State Health Department." App. at 250.
In November of 1977 the City conducted a tally of all persons who had been issued food vouchers during the prior three or six...
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