Clark v. Astrue

• Decision Date: 19 March 2010
• Docket Number: Docket No. 08-5801-cv.
• Parties: Elaine CLARK, Raymond Giangrasso, Tony Gonzales, Johnny L. Heatherman, Monell White, individually, on behalf of themselves, and on behalf of all similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Commissioner Michael J. ASTRUE, of the Social Security Administration, in his official capacity, Social Security Administration, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

602 F.3d 140

Elaine CLARK, Raymond Giangrasso, Tony Gonzales, Johnny L. Heatherman, Monell White, individually, on behalf of themselves, and on behalf of all similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Commissioner Michael J. ASTRUE, of the Social Security Administration, in his official capacity, Social Security Administration, Defendants-Appellees.

Docket No. 08-5801-cv.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: October 19, 2009.

Decided: March 19, 2010.

Steven E. Obus, Bettina B. Plevan, Brian S. Rauch, Russel L. Hirschhorn, Proskauer Rose LLP, New York, N.Y.; Gerald A. McIntyre, National Senior Citizens Law Center, Los Angeles, CA; Jennifer J. Parish, Urban Justice Center, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

John E. Gura, Jr., Assistant United States Attorney (David S. Jones, Assistant United States Attorney, of counsel), for Lev L. Dassin, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees.

Catherine M. Callery, Lynda J. Fisher, Louise M. Tarantino, Empire Justice Center, Rochester, N.Y.; Linda Landry, Disability Law Center Inc., Boston, MA, for Amici Curiae Empire Justice, et al., in support of Plaintiff-Appellants.

Before: NEWMAN, CALABRESI, KATZMANN, Circuit Judges.

CALABRESI, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs below appeal from the decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Stein J.) granting Defendants' motion for summary judgment and denying Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment. The District Court's decision is VACATED and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs-Appellants Elaine Clark, Raymond Giangrasso, Tony Gonzales, Johnny L. Heatherman, and Monell White brought suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Stein, J.) against Defendants-Appellees the Social Security Administration and its Commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, alleging that the Administration has suspended Old-Age, Survivor, and Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income benefits in a manner inconsistent with the authorizing statute. The District Court granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment and denied Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.

I.

A.

Title XVI and Title II of the Social Security Act provide benefits for qualifying individuals. 42 U.S.C. §§ 402, 1382. Title XVI's Social Security Income (SSI) program provides benefits to "each aged, blind, or disabled individual who does not have an eligible spouse" and whose income and resources fall below a certain level. 42 U.S.C. § 1382(a). Title II's Old-Age, Survivor, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program provides benefits to insured individuals, independent of need, who are, among other things, at least 62 years of age. 42 U.S.C. § 402.

Congress has passed two provisions authorizing the Social Security Administration to suspend the benefits of an individual who is violating the terms of her probation or parole (hereinafter "suspension provisions"). As part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-193, § 202, 110 Stat. 2105, 2185-86, Congress passed the SSI program's suspension provision, which states:

No person shall be considered an eligible individual or eligible spouse for purposes of this subchapter with respect to any month if during such month the person is—

(i) fleeing to avoid prosecution, or custody or confinement after conviction, under the laws of the place from which the person flees, for a crime, or an attempt to commit a crime, which is a felony under the laws of the place from which the person flees, or, in jurisdictions that do not define crimes as felonies, is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding 1 year regardless of the actual sentence imposed; or

(ii) violating a condition of probation or parole imposed under Federal or State law.

42 U.S.C. § 1382(e)(4)(A) (emphasis added). Congress passed a similar provision for the OASDI program in the Social Security Protection Act of 2004, Pub.L. No. 108-203, § 203, 118 Stat. 493, 509:

(1)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, no monthly benefits shall be paid under this section or under section 423 of this title to any individual for any month ending with or during or beginning with or during a period of more than 30 days throughout all of which such individual—

(i) is confined in a jail, prison, or other penal institution or correctional facility pursuant to his conviction of a criminal offense,

(ii) is confined by court order in an institution at public expense in connection with—

(I) a verdict or finding that the individual is guilty but insane, with respect to a criminal offense,

(II) a verdict or finding that the individual is not guilty of such an offense by reason of insanity,

(III) a finding that such individual is incompetent to stand trial under an allegation of such an offense, or

(IV) a similar verdict or finding with respect to such an offense based on similar factors (such as a mental disease, a mental defect, or mental incompetence),

(iii) immediately upon completion of confinement as described in clause (i) pursuant to conviction of a criminal offense an element of which is sexual activity, is confined by court order in an institution at public expense pursuant to a finding that the individual is a sexually dangerous person or a sexual predator or a similar finding,

(iv) is fleeing to avoid prosecution, or custody or confinement after conviction, under the laws of the place from which the person flees, for a crime, or an attempt to commit a crime, which is a felony under the laws of the place from which the person flees, or, in jurisdictions that do not define crimes as felonies, is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding 1 year regardless of the actual sentence imposed, or

(v) is violating a condition of probation or parole imposed under Federal or State law.

42 U.S.C. § 402(x)(1)(A) (emphasis added).

In 2004, Congress also provided for circumstances in which suspended benefits should be reinstated (hereinafter "good-cause provisions"). See Social Security Protection Act of 2004, Pub.L. 108-203, § 203, 118 Stat. at 509. The good-cause provision as it applies to the OASDI's suspension provision reads as follows:

(iii) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the Commissioner shall, for good cause shown, pay the individual benefits that have been withheld or would otherwise be withheld pursuant to clause (iv) or (v) of subparagraph (A) if the Commissioner determines that—

(I) a court of competent jurisdiction has found the individual not guilty of the criminal offense, dismissed the charges relating to the criminal offense, vacated the warrant for arrest of the individual for the criminal offense, or issued any similar exonerating order (or taken similar exonerating action), or

(II) the individual was erroneously implicated in connection with the criminal offense by reason of identity fraud.

42 U.S.C. § 402(x)(1)(B)(iii) (emphasis added). The SSI program's good-cause provision is to the same effect:

(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the Commissioner shall, for good cause shown, treat the person referred to in subparagraph (A) as an eligible individual or eligible spouse if the Commissioner determines that—

(i) a court of competent jurisdiction has found the person not guilty of the criminal offense, dismissed the charges relating to the criminal offense, vacated the warrant for arrest of the person for the criminal offense, or issued any similar exonerating order (or taken similar exonerating action), or

(ii) the person was erroneously implicated in connection with the criminal offense by reason of identity fraud.

42 U.S.C. § 1382(e)(4)(B) (emphasis added).

B.

On June 30, 2000, the Social Security Administration enacted a regulation implementing the 1996 suspension provision. 65 Fed.Reg. 40,493-94. That regulation states:

(1) Suspension of benefit payments because an individual is a fugitive as described in paragraph (a)(1) or (a)(2) of this section or a probation or parole violator as described in paragraph (a)(3) of this section is effective with the first day of whichever of the following months is earlier—

(i) The month in which a warrant or order for the individual's arrest or apprehension, an order requiring the individual's appearance before a court or other appropriate tribunal (e.g., a parole board), or similar order is issued by a court or other duly authorized tribunal on the basis of an appropriate finding that the individual—

(A) Is fleeing, or has fled, to avoid prosecution as described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section;

(B) Is fleeing, or has fled, to avoid custody or confinement after conviction as described in paragraph (a)(2) of this section;

(C) Is violating, or has violated, a condition of his or her probation or parole as described in paragraph (a)(3) of this section.

20 C.F.R. § 416.1339(b). The Administration has not adopted an analogous implementing regulation for the OASDI suspension provision.

C.

The Social Security Administration further construed Congress's suspension provisions in its sub-regulatory Program Operations Manual System (POMS). The POMS states that SSI benefits should be suspended under the following circumstances:

The month in which a warrant, a court order or decision, or an order or decision by an appropriate agency in the United States (e.g. parole board) is issued which finds that the individual is wanted in connection with a crime that is a felony or for attempting to commit a crime that is a felony or is violating a condition of his or her probation or parole.

POMS § SI 00530.010(A). Suspended SSI benefits may be reinstated "effective with the first month throughout which the individual does not have an active warrant pending for a ... violation of a condition of his or her parole or probation." Id. at §...