Social Security Class Action Lawsuit

The National Senior Citizens Law Center or NSCLC advocates before the courts, Congress and federal agencies to promote the independence and well-being of low-income elderly and disabled Americans.  See, http://www.nsclc.org .  According to an NSCLC August 11, 2009 Press Release, the Social Security Administration has agreed to repay more than $500 million in benefits that were unlawfully withheld from 80,000 people whose benefits have been suspended or denied since January 1, 2007.  The agreement is part of a class action lawsuit settlement which has received preliminary court approval.  As stated in the NSCLC Press Release, people whose benefits were suspended or denied between 2000 and 2006 will be notified of the new policy and given a chance to re-establish eligibility.  In this regard, the NSCLC estimates that more than 200,000 people may see their benefits reinstated and/or receive back payments due to the settlement which resolves a lawsuit, Martinez v. Astrue, challenging the Social Security Administration’s method of implementing a narrowly drawn provision of the Social Security Act that seeks to prevent people from using government benefits to flee from arrest.  The NSCLC says that rather than trying to figure out which Social Security recipients were actually fleeing prosecution, the SSA used a computer matching system which matched names in warrant databases to those at SSA, and many of the matches and automatic benefit suspensions involved false or unproven allegations, minor infractions or long-dormant arrest warrants.  An NSCLC attorney quoted in the Press Release said “That vast majority of class members were not fleeing at all.”  The attorney also said “many never knew that criminal charges were pending against them, let alone that a warrant had issued.”  Another attorney involved in the lawsuit added “What’s remarkable about this case is the sheer number of individuals who were unfairly denied benefits and the size of the financial settlement they will receive.”