Boddie v. Wyman
| Decision Date | 09 December 1970 |
| Docket Number | Docket 35519.,No. 422,422 |
| Parties | Catherine BODDIE, Lillian Jackson, Thelma Moore and Eldena Kazimer, individually, on behalf of their minor children and all other persons similarly situated, and Jamie Evans, Evelina Privott, Alice Dodge, Lela Esley, as individuals and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. George K. WYMAN, individually and in his capacity as Commissioner of Social Services for the State of New York, and the Department of Social Services for the State of New York, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Steven J. Cole, New York City (Louise Lander, Philadelphia, Pa., Henry A. Freedman, Washington, D. C., Dennis B. Schlenker, Albany, N. Y., Robert D. Kolken, Buffalo, N. Y., Richard E. Ellison, Syracuse, N. Y., on the brief), for plaintiffs-appellees.
Amy Juviler, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Louis J. Lefkowitz, Atty. Gen., on the brief), for defendants-appellants.
Before LUMBARD, Chief Judge, HAYS, Circuit Judge and TENNEY, District Judge.*
This is an appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, granting a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of N.Y. Social Services Law § 131-a (McKinney's Consol. Laws, c. 55 Supp.1970) and the regulations promulgated thereunder, 18 N.Y.C.R.R. § 352.2 (d) (1970). The action was instituted by eight residents of areas of New York state outside New York City who are recipients of that state's federally-supported public assistance programs of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (A FDC) and Aid to the Aged, Blind or Disabled (AABD). Plaintiffs, suing as class representatives of persons receiving AFDC or AABD and of persons who would otherwise be eligible to receive AFDC or AABD, allege that the statutory schedule in § 131-a, which provides for lower monthly recurring grants in 50 upstate counties outside New York City than for the city itself, violates certain mandatory provisions of the Social Security Act, namely, § 402(a) (1), (2), (3) (42 U.S.C. § 602(a) (1), (2), (3) (1964)), and § 1602(a) (1), (2), (3) (42 U.S.C. § 1382(a) (1), (2), (3) (1964)) and regulations promulgated thereunder, as well as the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The complaint sought both declaratory and injunctive relief. Originally a statutory three-judge court was convened. That court remanded the federal statutory claim to a single judge. See Rosado v. Wyman, 397 U.S. 397, 403, 90 S.Ct. 1207, 25 L.Ed.2d 442 (1970).
In his opinion granting plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction the district court judge found that there was a "failure of objective support" for the differentials established by the state statute and regulations, that there was a reasonable certainty that plaintiffs would finally prevail on the merits, and that plaintiffs were suffering irreparable harm daily by reason of the differentials. The preliminary injunction enjoins appellants, pending further order of the district court, from enforcing in the 50 upstate counties schedules of grants and allowances in AFDC and AABD programs "other than according to objective, nondiscriminatory standards based upon the cost of the needs of such recipients." The order also requires appellants to promulgate and use schedules for the upstate counties identical to those used in New York City until such time as appellants present evidence which demonstrates that costs are higher in New York City than elsewhere in the state. This court granted a stay. We now affirm the order of the district court and vacate our stay.
Section 131-a of the New York Social Services Law establishes schedules for the payment of monthly or semi-monthly regular recurring grants to cover items of basic need such as food, clothing and transportation. The schedules do not include shelter costs which are computed on a different basis and paid as needed. Section 131-a provides:
The statute thus allows a maximum disparity of $47 per month in the six member family. With each additional person in the household the amount of the disparity increases.
Section 131-a(4)(a) allows the commissioner to raise or lower the levels in a district outside the New York City metropolitan area "if it is established that in such district the total cost of the items included in the schedule applicable to such district actually is more or less, as the case may be, than the cost thereof reflected in such schedule." The commissioner is authorized to increase the level in a district to an amount even greater than the statutory maximums for the upstate area as long as they are not higher than the New York City levels.
Pursuant to this statutory authority, the state has promulgated standards of need for various geographical areas which are also levels of maximum payment, since the state purports to pay 100% of need:
Family Size
One Two Three Four Five Six Seven each
add
SA-11 $84 $134 $179 $231 $284 $329 $374 $45
SA-22 $69 $115 $161 $207 $253 $294 $335 $41
SA-33 $65 $111 $157 $203 $249 $290 $331 $41
18 N.Y.C.R.R. § 352.2(d) (1970)
Thus there are wide disparities in the standards of need and actual payments that are solely dependent upon the place of residence of the recipient within the state. It is plaintiffs' contention that certain provisions of the Social Security Act and the regulations, which must be complied with in order for New York to continue receiving federal funds, do not countenance these disparities in the absence of cost differentials.
Titles IV and XVI of the Social Security Act require that a state's plans for Aid to Families with Dependent Children and for Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled must:
42 U.S.C. §§ 602(a) (1), (2), (3), 1382 (a) (1), (2), (3) (1964).
The existence of arbitrary differences in welfare payments between areas in the same state seems to have been one of the reasons for the enactment of the legislation in its eventual form. The message of the President recommending the legislation noted the often optional nature of state programs at the county level. Message of the President Recommending Legislation on Economic Security, H.R.Doc. No. 81, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 22 (1935). The Presidential Committee on Economic Security, recognizing that the effectiveness of pension laws would depend largely on broad state involvement, recommended that responsibility for administration of assistance to the aged be centralized within the state to "avoid a diversity of operating standards in the subdivisions within the states." Social Security Board, Social Security in America, A Summary of Staff Reports of the Committee on Economic Security, 161, 191 (1937). There was a similar situation with respect to aid to needy children. Social Security in America, supra at 234; Douglas, Social Security in the United States 186-87, 192 (1936). These conditions prompted the inclusion in the statute of the requirements of statewide operation, state financial participation and a single state administrative agency. These provisions became part of the program of Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled, added to the Act in 1950, Pub.L. No. 734, 64 Stat. 477 (1950), and of the combined program of Aid to the Aged, Blind, or Disabled, enacted in 1962, Pub.L. No. 87-543, 76 Stat. 172, 197 (1962).
The regulations enacted by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the agency charged with the administration of these federally-supported public assistance programs, also contain the requirements for intrastate uniformity. A state plan for AFDC or AABD must:
(45 C.F.R. § 233.20(a) (1), (2) (1970).)
The agency provides in its Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Handbook of Public Assistance Administration, Pt. II, § 4300 that "State policies, standards and methods will apply equally to persons in like situations wherever they may live" and that "the specific eligibility factors for each assistance program, including resources and standards of need, * * * must be uniformly applied in area offices or political subdivisions." Id. Thus, "State and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Almenares v. Wyman
...regulation, if valid, is binding upon the State. Lewis v. Martin, 397 U.S. 552, 90 S.Ct. 1282, 25 L.Ed.2d 561 (1970); Boddie v. Wyman, 434 F.2d 1207 (2d Cir. 1970), aff'd mem., 402 U.S. 991, 91 S. Ct. 2168, 29 L.Ed.2d 157 (1971); Solman v. Shapiro, 300 F.Supp. 409 (D. Conn.1969), aff'd mem.......
-
Bond v. Dentzer
...aid, neighborhood services and civil rights organizations. (LaPrease v. Raymours Furniture Company (NDNY) 315 F.Supp. 716; Boddie v. Wyman, 2 Cir., 434 F.2d 1207; see also Cook v. Board of Education, 2 Cir., 424 F.2d The application here for a temporary restraining order that often unfortun......
-
Serritella v. Engelman
...dispute the naked proposition that the federal regulation, if valid, is binding upon the state. Lewis v. Martin, supra; Boddie v. Wyman, 434 F.2d 1207 (2 Cir. 1970), aff'd mem. 402 U.S. 991, 91 S.Ct. 2168, 29 L.Ed.2d 157 (1971). Defendants, in fact, go so far as to imply that if HEW's regul......
-
Morel v. Giuliani
...Cir.1977); Lyons v. Weinberger, 376 F.Supp. 248, 262-63 (S.D.N.Y.1974); Boddie v. Wyman, 323 F.Supp. 1189, 1193 (N.D.N.Y.), aff'd, 434 F.2d 1207 (2d Cir.1970), aff'd 402 U.S. 991, 91 S.Ct. 2168, 29 L.Ed.2d 157 (1971). Courts have provided preliminary relief in cases alleging imminent depriv......