District Court Approves Settlement in
“Fleeing Felon” Class Action

A California District Court approved a settlement in Martinez v. Astrue, Case No. 08-CV4735 CW (N.D. Cal.Sept. 24, 2009) on September 24, 2009. Martinez is a nationwide class action challenging SSA’s definition of what constitutes a “fleeing felon.” In the settlement, SSA agreed to change the definition of “fleeing” and provide relief to more than 200,000 individuals whose benefits were previously suspended or denied. The essential problem was that SSA was denying benefits to individuals who merely had an active or outstanding warrant, without any effort to determine the individuals’ intent to avoid law enforcement or the prosecutor’s intent to pursue the individuals. The settlement provides that SSA will now only deny benefits if a claimant has an outstanding felony warrant issued for one of the following three offenses, which are directly based on the concept of “fleeing”:

Prototype Extended

Ten years ago, SSA eliminated the reconsideration level for applicants applying for Social Security and SSI disability benefits. This was labeled the “prototype” test. This means that when claimants file an appeal after being denied benefits, they file a Request for Hearing, as opposed to a Request for Reconsideration. The prototype test is being extended for New York [selected areas in Manhattan, Jamaica, Endicott, and Buffalo], Pennsylvania, Alabama, Michigan, Louisiana, Missouri, Colorado, California (Los Angeles North and West), Alaska, and New Hampshire.

No COLA in 2010

There will be no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security and SSI beneficiaries in 2010. This is in contrast to the change from 2008 to 2009, which was 5.8 percent, the largest increase since 1982. Why no COLA in 2010? The COLA is determined by comparing the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009. There was no increase. Since there will be no COLA in 2010, Social Security disability and SSI benefits will not change. (NOSSCR Forum, October 2009)

ALJ Disposition Information Available

As part of the continuing effort to comply with President Obama’s “Open Government” initiative, SSA is posting updated information on its website. Of specific interest to claimants and their representatives are data and statistics related to the hearing level, available at www.ssa.gov/appeals. A new data set provides ALJ disposition data through December 2009 at http://www.ssa.gov/appeals/DataSets/03_ALJ_Disp.html. This chart identifies ALJs by name and hearing office location and lists total dispositions for fiscal year 2010 (beginning October 2009) through December 2009. It breaks down dispositions by total awards, fully favorable decisions, partially favorable decisions, and total denials.

SSA also has opened an Open Government webpage, www.ssa.gov/open. The site provides links to SSA data on many topics. An interesting aspect of the site is that it allows you to make suggestions about data the agency should collect.

(From NOSSCR Social Security Forum, January 2010)

Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Added to Compassionate Allowances List

SSA has added 38 new impairments to its “compassionate allowances” list (this list expedites the disability determination process and can be applied at all administrative levels). The most prominent new impairment is early onset Alzheimer’s disease. See www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances. According to the February 11 SSA press release:

The press release, which includes a list of the 38 new compassionate allowances impairments, is available at http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/cal021110-pr.html.

(From NOSSCR Social Security Forum, January 2010)