Four Court Cases

Four court cases have been decided and the retroactive implementation will become effective simultaneously November 1, 1985. They are:

  1. North Coast Coalition v. Woods
  2. Wood v. Woods
  3. Wright v. Woods
  4. Angus v. Woods

Issues

North Coast Coalition v. Woods

The Superior Court of Mendocino County has ordered the State and the counties to make retroactive payments to AFDC clients who had an Unrelated Adult Male (UAM) living in the home AND who had their AFDC cash aid reduced, denied, or discontinued anytime between August 1, 1976 and September 30, 1980, because a portion of the UAM's required contribution for his own living expenses was deemed as income to the AU.

Wood v. Woods

The Superior Court of San Mateo has ordered the State and the counties to make retroactive payments to AFDC clients who had a stepparent living in the home AND who had their AFDC cash aid reduced, denied or discontinued for any period from January 1, 1980 through September 30, 1981, because the spouse's community property interest in the income of a nonadoptive stepparent was considered unconditionally available to the spouse for the support of the stepchild(ren) receiving AFDC.

Wright v. Woods

The superior Court of San Mateo has ordered the State and the counties to make retroactive payments to AFDC clients whose AFDC cash aid together with their total outside income was less than 100% of MAP for the AU in the payment month. The retroactive period is July 18, 1976 through December 31, 1980.

Angus v. Woods

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California has ordered the State and the counties to make retroactive payments to AFDC clients whose cash aid was reduced in order to recoup a willful overpayment and the amount of the client's net nonexempt income was insufficient to meet:

  • His/her housing and utility costs, or
  • MBSAC for the number of children in the AU for the payment month. The retroactive period is September 1, 1977 through December 31, 1980.

Retroactivity

All claims are for retroactive payments. The continuing issues have been resolved and implemented previously.

General Information

  1. The State will notify potentially eligible claimants by means of posters at CWD, EDD and Food Stamp offices, by a public advertising campaign and by the mailing of claim forms to all current AFDC recipients.
  2. CROP Eligibility Workers will be responsible for determining eligibility for retroactive benefits. Other eligibility workers are NOT required to do case reviews. The responsibility for notifying potentially eligible claimants rests with the State.
  3. Claims may be filed from November 1, 1985 through February 28, 1986.
  4. RCA/RDP will not be involved.

Action Required

  1. Continuing Eligibility Workers will:
    1. Route any “Four Court” claim forms received to the “CROP Unit,” CC1A, Central.
    2. Refer clients to reception if they request a claim form. Additional claim forms will be available in the reception area in each District Office.
  2. New cases will not be affected by these court orders, as the issues have been previously resolved.
  3. Clerks in District Office Reception will:
    1. Provide clients with claim forms when requested and instruct claimants to send the completed claim to the CROP Unit as above. Claimants having questions should be advised to contact CROP Unit; 441-5604.
  4. CROP Eligibility Workers will:
    1. Process claim forms per EAS Section 50-014.
    2. Issue retroactive payments.
    3. Borrow cases from D.O. when necessary. Most of the information needed for these reviews will be contained in prior volumes.
    4. Keep required statistics.

Related Topics

Brown v. McMahon