Steuben County Agrees to Speed Up Receipt of Food Stamps, Medicaid Assistance, and Cash Public Assistance to Those Hard Hit by Recession

- Posted November 2009

NCLEJ, the Western New York Law Center, and the Empire Justice Center have achieved a settlement in a United States District Court for the Western District of New York in a class action case challenging Steuben County’s unlawful practice of delaying food stamp, Medicaid, and cash public assistance applications. The case was filed in federal district court in Rochester, NY. The Court certified a class of food stamp, Medicaid, and cash public assistance applicants in August 2009.

The settlement, pending approval by the court, provides relief to the hundreds of Steuben County residents who apply for food stamps, Medicaid and/or cash public assistance each month. In these times of economic downturn and lay-offs at the County’s largest employers, more and more individuals and families are requesting assistance from the County and the need for timely determinations of eligibility and provision of these much-needed benefits is essential to people’s health and well-being. This agreement will end a long standing practice by the County of processing applications often weeks and months longer than permitted by law.

For further information, please contact: Laura F. Redman (redman(at)nclej.org), Petra T. Tasheff, (tasheff(at)nclej.org) and Marc Cohan (cohan(at)nclej.org) at NCLEJ at (212) 633-6967.