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$500 Million Settlement in Class Action Filed by Mental Health Project Gets Final Court Approval

Order of Final Approval

The Social Security Administration (SSA) will repay over $500 million to 80,000 individuals whose benefits were suspended or denied since January 1, 2007, under a nationwide class action settlement granted final approval on September 24, 2009 by U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken. In addition, those whose benefits were suspended or denied between 2000 and 2006 will have any overpayment balances removed, and will receive notice and the chance to re-establish eligibility. All told, more than 200,000 individuals will receive relief under this settlement, which resolves a class action lawsuit challenging SSA's arbitrary and unlawful policy of using warrant information to suspend or deny benefits.

Urban Justice Center joined the National Senior Citizens Law Center, Disability Rights California, Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and pro bono counsel Munger, Tolles & Olson to represent plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

Court documents and relevant materials can be found here. For more information, contact Emilia Sicilia at (646) 602-5668.

UJC's Mental Health Project Helps Win ADA Victory for 4300 Adult Home Residents with Mental Illness

On September 8th, United States District Judge Nicholas Garaufis issued a 210-page decision in Disability Advocates, Inc. v. Paterson finding that New York State violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act by warehousing 4,300 people with mental illness in institutional adult homes. The court quoted one former State official who testified that adult homes were "institutional living at ... its worst," like "little ghettos" that "impede community integration," with "people sitting out front [of] the adult home, smoking, going back in ..." Now, the State will have to offer supported housing and services to adult home residents with mental illness in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.

The decision followed six years of litigation and a five-week trial. MHP assisted Disability Advocates, Inc., the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, MFY, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and pro bono counsel Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, and Wharton & Garrison.

"Despair's Profiteers," NY Times, September 14, 2009

"State's Homes for Mentally Ill Adults Violate ADA, Judge Rules," New York Law Journal, September 9, 2009

"State Discriminated Against Mentally Ill, Judge Rules," New York Times, September 9, 2009

"A Cycle of Promises Not Kept," New York Times, September 9, 2009

MHP Law Suit Secures $12 Million IN Back Food Stamps Owed TO New York City's Poor

Just in time for Thanksgiving, New York State began distributing $12,000,000 in food stamps to low-income New Yorkers with severe disabilities. This is a landmark step in the enforcement of Harris v. Eggleston, a 2002 class-action law suit brought by MHP and the Homelessness Outreach and Prevention Project of the Urban Justice Center, with pro bono assistance from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Read the New York Times article.

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