Pillsbury Files Class Action Lawsuit against Alameda County over Chronic Delays in Processing Food Assistance Applications

SAN FRANCISCO—Pillsbury, acting as pro bono counsel to the Western Center on Law & Poverty and the Public Interest Law Project, has filed a federal class action lawsuit against Alameda County, its social services agency and various government officials, alleging that endemic delays in processing food stamp applications are putting thousands of county residents at risk of hunger and illness.

The suit was filed September 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

San Francisco-based litigation partner Thomas Loran is leading Pillsbury’s pro bono effort on behalf of the two nonprofit organizations. The Western Center on Law & Poverty represents low-income Californians through litigation, legislative advocacy, and administrative advocacy in core poverty issues of housing, healthcare, basic income support, and access to justice. The Public Interest Law Project provides litigation and advocacy support to California’s low-income individuals and communities.

The class action complaint, available here, notes that federal and state laws require that applications for federally funded food stamps (known nationally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and in California as CalFresh) be processed, and a decision rendered to an applicant, within 30 days. In California, this is shortened to three calendar days in emergency cases.

Over the past year, Alameda County has exceeded the 30-day limit for processing CalFresh applications nearly 20% of the time. One of the three named plaintiffs in the complaint has been waiting longer than 50 days for a decision. Overall, more than 10,600 applications to the Social Services Agency still await a determination—more than twice the total number of applications received in an average month. A report from state Department of Social Services ranked Alameda County last among California counties in the timeliness of its processing during the 12-month period ending in July 2015.

The county’s chronic failure to act, the complaint says, “within the time limits mandated by federal and state law has resulted and continues to result in substantial delays in providing CalFresh benefits to thousands of low-income households in Alameda County critically in need of this assistance.” The complaint asserts that the county’s chronic lateness in processing CalFresh applications forces the most vulnerable residents “to choose between meeting their nutritional needs and other basic needs. The problem has grown for over two years and threatened to continue to grow.”

In addition to Alameda County and its Social Services Agency, the complaint names the County Board of Supervisors and agency director Lori Cox as defendants.

The class action asks the court for declaratory and injunctive relief, namely to order the defendants to make determinations on CalFresh applications within 30 days, and in an emergency pay benefits within 3 days, as required by federal and state law.

Plaintiff Jarvis Johnson, waiting for his emergency benefits, noted, “I wouldn’t ask for help unless I really needed it, and I need it now. The [County’s] social services are supposed to help us get our food stamps when we need them, not weeks later. I believe I’m not the only one who has had their food stamps delayed.”

“We want a judge to hold the county and its Social Services Agency accountable for these unwarranted delays, and to order that regular and expedited CalFresh applications be processed as the law requires,” Loran said. “Vulnerable residents of this County, including the disabled or elderly and those who are unemployed or merely under-employed, should not be victimized by the very agencies that were designed to help them obtain enough to eat. County officials are aware of this ongoing problem and have not acted. We hope that the prospect of litigation will, belatedly, bring them to do the right thing.” Lauren Hansen, of the Public Interest Law Project, said that “the County’s obligation is unambiguous. The County is aware of the delays, and it must now take affirmative steps to ensure that these critical benefits reach families who desperately need food.”