Reynolds v. Giuliani

• Decision Date: 21 July 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98 Civ. 8877(WHP).,98 Civ. 8877(WHP).
• Citation: 118 F.Supp.2d 352
• Parties: Lakisha REYNOLDS, Georgina Bonilla, April Smiley, Lue Garlick, Adriana Calabrese, Jenny Cuevas, and Elston Richards on their own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Rudolph GIULIANI, as Mayor of the City of New York; Jason Turner, as Commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration, Brian J. Wing, as Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance; and Barbara Debuono, as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

118 F.Supp.2d 352

Lakisha REYNOLDS, Georgina Bonilla, April Smiley, Lue Garlick, Adriana Calabrese, Jenny Cuevas, and Elston Richards on their own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Rudolph GIULIANI, as Mayor of the City of New York; Jason Turner, as Commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration, Brian J. Wing, as Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance; and Barbara Debuono, as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, Defendants.

No. 98 Civ. 8877(WHP).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

July 21, 2000.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Marc Cohan, Rebecca L. Scharf, Hwan-Hui Helen Lee, Legal Aid Society, Mary Ellen Burns, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corp., Constance P. Carden, New York Legal Assistance Group, New York City, for Plaintiffs.

Charles A. Miller, Caroline M. Brown, Covington & Burling, Washington, DC, Jonathan Pines, Assistant Corporation Counsel, New York City, for City Defendants.

James M. Hershler, Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York, New York City, for State Defendants.

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

PAULEY, District Judge.

This action involves class-based allegations that certain policies and practices of the New York City Human Resources Administration, the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, and the New York State Department of Health have the effect of preventing eligible individuals from applying for and timely receiving food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance benefits. This memorandum and order addresses three motions.

First, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Jason Turner, Commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration (the "City defendants"), move to vacate the preliminary injunction entered by this Court on January 25, 1999 and modified on May 24, 1999. Additionally, defendants Brian J. Wing, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, and Barbara DeBuono, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health (the "State defendants"), move for an order, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), dismissing the complaint as against them. Finally, plaintiffs Lakisha Reynolds, Georgina Bonilla, April Smiley, Lue Garlick, Adriana Calabrese, Jenny Cuevas and Elston Richards move for an order, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23, certifying as class plaintiffs "[a]ll New York City residents who have sought, are seeking, or will seek to apply for food stamps, Medicaid, and/or cash assistance from City defendants at Job Centers." (Compl. ¶ 61)

The facts of this case, together with the statutory and regulatory framework underlying plaintiffs' claims, are set forth in two prior memoranda and orders of this Court, familiarity with which is assumed. See Reynolds v. Giuliani, 35 F.Supp.2d 331 (S.D.N.Y.1999) ("Reynolds I"); Reynolds v. Giuliani, 43 F.Supp.2d 492 (S.D.N.Y.1999) ("Reynolds II"). However, given the complexity of this litigation and the substantial evidentiary record that the parties have amassed, it is useful to summarize the factual background and procedural posture of the action before turning to the pending motions.

Background

Until March 1998, New York City's Human Resources Administration ("HRA") accepted and processed applications for public assistance at offices known as income support centers. Thereafter, HRA began converting its 31 income support centers to "job centers" in an effort to implement the changes in federal and State welfare policy wrought by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 ("PRWORA"), Pub.L. No. 104-193, 110 Stat. 2105 (Aug. 22, 1996).

PRWORA changed welfare programs in New York and around the country by, among other things, ending the Aid to Families with Dependent Children ("AFDC") program and replacing it with a block grant program known as the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families ("TANF"). TANF introduces mandatory work requirements and limits the amount of time that a person can collect benefits. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. § 607 (detailing mandatory work requirements for those receiving TANF benefits); 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(1)(A)(ii) (requiring TANF recipients to work when they are determined to be ready to work, or after twenty-four months of benefits, whichever is earlier); 42 U.S.C. § 608(a)(1)(B) (forbidding states from using TANF money to assist a family if an adult in the family has received assistance for sixty months). New York passed its own welfare reform legislation in August 1997 and participates in TANF through two cash assistance programs: Family Assistance, which is available to pregnant women and families with a minor child, and Safety Net Assistance, which is available to childless adults. See N.Y. Social Services Law §§ 158 and 349.

In New York City, these public assistance programs are administered by HRA's Family Independence Administration ("FIA"). Since public assistance recipients are generally eligible for food stamps and Medicaid, FIA oversees the application process for individuals seeking a combination of benefits. (Smith Decl. ¶ 2) However, FIA is not directly responsible for eligibility determinations for food stamps or Medicaid. Instead, applicants seeking these benefits at job centers or income support centers are referred to separate agencies for eligibility determinations. (Id.) This division of responsibility for processing non-public and public assistance applications predates HRA's program of converting income support centers to job centers. (Id.)

Another important division within HRA is the Office of Quality Assurance ("OQA"), which is responsible for "preserving the quality, efficiency, and financial integrity of FIA's programs." (Abdullah Decl. ¶ 2) One of OQA's functions is to replicate the quality control reviews of food stamp eligibility conducted by federal and state agencies. Under the federal food stamps program, states with relatively high error rates may face sanctions by way of a reduction in federal funding.¹ See 7 U.S.C.A. § 2025(d). OQA sends monitoring personnel out to centers to attempt to predict and minimize HRA's payment error rate.

At the present time, HRA operates twelve income support centers and sixteen job centers. In 1999, FIA merged four income support centers into two, converted three income support centers into job centers, and closed one income support center. The application process for public assistance at job centers is more rigorous than at income support centers, as job centers place greater emphasis on job search and employment activities for those able to work. Last year, HRA's job centers and income support centers received and processed approximately 168,000 public assistance applications and assisted approximately 350,000 individuals in engaging in employment activities. (Smith Decl. ¶ 3)

Procedural History

Plaintiffs commenced this action by order to show cause in December 1998 seeking, inter alia, a temporary restraining order enjoining the conversion of additional income support centers to job centers. Plaintiffs alleged that HRA's staff at job centers were routinely preventing prospective applicants from applying for benefits during their first visit to a job center, pressuring applicants to withdraw their applications, improperly denying combined applications for cash assistance, food stamps and Medicaid when only cash assistance had been denied, and failing to provide adequate notice of determinations. The complaint asserted private rights of action under federal food stamps and Medicaid statutes and regulations, including the right to apply for such benefits without delay and to receive timely determinations of eligibility. The complaint also set forth claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 based on alleged violations of these statutes and regulations as well as plaintiffs' federal due process rights.

Following a period of expedited discovery, this Court conducted a three-day evidentiary hearing in January 1999. On January 25, 1999, this Court held in Reynolds I that plaintiffs had established irreparable harm and a likelihood of success on their claims. The Court rejected the City defendants' argument that the errors and deficiencies at job centers were isolated problems. On the contrary, the evidence pointed to system-wide failures resulting from HRA's hurried conversions of income support centers to job centers and its incremental, post hoc responses to what appeared to be an array of serious and interrelated problems.

At the hearing, the Court heard evidence that HRA had opened its first job center in March 1998 as a test-bed with the intention of addressing problems as they arose. See Reynolds I, 35 F.Supp.2d at 341. The evidence demonstrated that problems abounded. Data proffered by plaintiffs revealed sharp declines in applicants being approved for benefits after an income support center was converted to a job center. Those declines appeared attributable to the efforts of job center personnel to deter applicants from applying for food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance. See Reynolds I, 35 F.Supp.2d at 343. By way of example, a monthly average of 48.96% of all applicants were diverted from seeking assistance at the Jamaica Job Center. Id. Figures for other job centers were equally alarming. Other evidence confirmed what might be fairly characterized as a culture of improper deterrence at job centers, including summary reports prepared by job centers tracking the number of applicants diverted. Id. at 344-45.

Plaintiffs also presented evidence that job centers were failing to comply with certain statutory and regulatory requirements for administering food stamps and Medicaid benefits. For example, the evidence indicated that job centers were failing to timely process applications, failing to separate eligibility determinations, erroneously denying food stamps and Medicaid applications, failing to...