Hawthorne-Bey v. Reinertson

No. 05 CA 303 (Colo. Ct. App. January 31, 2005) ; Clearinghouse Number: 55832

Description

Colorado Ordered to Address Problems Resulting from New Computer System That Improperly Delays, Reduces, or Terminates Benefits

Abstract

The district court granted in part plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction against defendant director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policies and Financing and other state officials. Plaintiffs are applicants for and recipients of benefits from one or more programs administered by defendants—the Food Stamp Program, Medicaid, Colorado Works (the cash assistance program), the child health program, and the Old Age Pension program. Following defendants’ implementation of new computerized information technology system, plaintiffs’ benefit applications were delayed beyond the required processing time; plaintiffs’ benefits were reduced, terminated, or delayed without cause; or plaintiffs received legally insufficient notices—or plaintiffs suffered all of the above. Plaintiffs filed a class action complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Finding that nearly 30,000 cases were out of compliance with federal or state requirements, the court ordered defendants to reduce the out-of-compliance cases by 40 percent within two months and by an additional 40 percent within each two months thereafter until they achieve substantial compliance. The court also ordered defendants to establish an emergency processing unit, including an 800 number, to serve, within five business days, those facing emergencies because their applications had not been processed properly or their benefits had been improperly reduced, terminated, or suspended. The court ordered defendants not to seek recovery of any overpayments caused by errors of the new computer system. The court denied defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that plaintiffs lacked a private right of action. Both the Medicaid and Food Stamp Acts create private rights of action, the court said, that plaintiffs may enforce through Section 1983, as do comparable state benefit programs. The court denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, and plaintiffs are seeking interlocutory appeal on an expedited basis.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Appellants represented by Elisabeth Arenales, Maureen Farrell, Ed Kahn, Colorado Center on Law and Policy, 1490 Lafayette, Suite 206, Denver, CO 80218 (telephone number: 303.573.5669); Marc Cohan, Mary Mannix, Petra Tasheff, Welfare Law Center, 275 Seventh Ave., Suite 1205, New York, NY 10001 (telephone number: 212.633.6967).
Docket Date
2005-01-31 00:00:00+00:00
Attorney Email
msfarrell@cclponline.org, ekahn@khgk.com