Court: Reason Must Be Given For Welfare Denial

Friday, March 23, 2012 at 7:29 AM

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - The Indiana Supreme Court has sided with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana over the wrongful denial of welfare to some Hoosiers.

The ACLU filed class action suit in 2008 claiming that the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration was denying Medicaid, food stamps, and welfare to applicants without sufficiently telling them why there were denied.

The justices issued a unanimous ruling Thursday saying the FSSA violated applicants’ due process rights protected under the 14th Amendment.

“We reverse the judgment of the trial court and hold that the FSSA's denial notices are insufficiently explanatory but that the FSSA may deny an application for Food Stamp benefits when the applicant fails to cooperate in the eligibility determination process,” Justice Brent E. Dickson wrote in the 23-page opinion.

Letters sent back to denied recipients stated they had “failed to cooperate” with a process that involved submitting as many as 20-30 documents to verify eligibility. The FSSA would reject applications without stating which missing document was needed, the ACLU claimed.

"The state's fundamental obligation to inform benefit applicants of the specific reasons for denying claims has been established for more than 40 years," said ACLU of Indiana attorney Gavin M. Rose. "We are exceedingly pleased with the Indiana Supreme Court's ruling to provide for the neediest among us where the state had voluntarily failed to do so."

The ACLU says in addition to denying benefits without providing adequate information or explanation, the FSSA would sometimes send letters to the wrong addresses.

Rose said as many as a million people may have been affected by the FSSA practice.