NCLEJ and Advocacy Center of Louisiana Urge Major Improvements in FEMA’s Draft Disaster Temporary Housing Operational Guide to Address Needs of Individuals with Disabilities

FEMA Still Falls Short in Disaster Planning for People with Disabilities

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, thousands of displaced persons with disabilities were left stranded in shelters, forced into institutions, and given trailers without ramps, with inaccessible bathrooms, inadequate room to maneuver wheelchairs, and other accessibility barriers…

Lawsuit Causes FEMA to Disgorge Documents on Accessible Temporary Housing

In January 2010, after a long delay, FEMA released 700 pages of materials to NCLEJ which NCLEJ had requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in March 2009. FEMA only released the material after NCLEJ, represented by…

Rhode Island to Speed Food Stamp Processing Under Court-Approved Settlement

The National Center for Law and Economic Justice, together with the Rhode Island ACLU through Cooperating Attorney Lynette Labinger of Roney & Labinger LLP, filed suit on July 6, 2009 against the Director of the Rhode Island Department…

Indiana Agrees to Court Order Speeding Provision of Food Stamp Benefits

On April 7, 2009, NCLEJ filed Tiffany Bell, et al. v. Anne W. Murphy, et al., a class action challenging Indiana’s failure to timely process food stamp applications. The case was filed in federal district court in South…

NCLEJ and Empire Justice Center Achieve Settlement Ending Lengthy Delays in Processing of Food Stamp and Medicaid Applications in Long Island, New York

NCLEJ and the Empire Justice Center achieved a revised settlement in July 2014 in a United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York case challenging Suffolk County’s unlawful practice of delaying food stamp and Medicaid…

NCLEJ and Texas Colleagues File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Texas Food Stamp Application Processing Delays

NCLEJ and Empire Justice Center Challenge Unlawful Delays in Processing Emergency Assistance Applications in Long Island, New York

Doe v. Blass, a class action filed in September 2009, challenges delays in providing emergency assistance for costs such as rent arrears, security deposits, broker fees, and avoiding utility shutoff. People are losing their housing as the result…

NCLEJ and Colleagues Achieve Settlement in Colorado Requiring Prompt Processing of Benefits Applications

On January 3, 2008 the state court approved a settlement in this case, which was filed in August 2004 court following Colorado’s premature launch of a flawed new computer system to manage applications and ongoing eligibility for all…