Dunn v. Kaladjian

279 F.R.D. 79, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110842, 2011 WL 4532050
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 28, 2011
DocketNo. 92-CV-1002 (JFB)(CLP)
StatusPublished

This text of 279 F.R.D. 79 (Dunn v. Kaladjian) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dunn v. Kaladjian, 279 F.R.D. 79, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110842, 2011 WL 4532050 (E.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOSEPH F. BIANCO, District Judge:

Plaintiffs Geraldine Boyland, Joan and Robert Ford, and Phillis Scirica commenced this class action on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated New York City residents who sought the assistance of the New York City Department of Social Services (“DSS” or the “City”) or one of its agents to resolve a heat-related energy emergency at any time since February 27, 1989 and (1) were not provided with an emergency benefit under the Home Energy Assistance Program (“E-HEAP”) due to the failure of DSS or its agents to inform them of the availability of such benefits, or (2) did not receive timely notice of an E-HEAP eligibility determination or some form of assistance to resolve the energy emergency within forty-eight hours of the resident’s request, or within eighteen hours if under life-threatening circumstances, or (3) received a state-funded loan pursuant to New York Social Services Law § 131-s to resolve the heat-related energy crisis without evaluation of eligibility for an E-HEAP benefit, and were compelled to repay such state funds. Plaintiffs sued both the City and the Commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance of the New York State Department of Family Assistance (the “State”).

Plaintiffs have now moved pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6) for relief from the Court’s March 27, 2007 Order (“March Order”) granting summary judgment in favor of defendants. Specifically, plaintiffs claim that defendants’ procedures in implementing E-HEAP, which had been revised at the time of the March Order and considered by the Court in its decision, have not resolved the lack of: (1) notice of E-HEAP determinations to applicants; and (2) proper coding of public assistance (“PA”) households, which caused PA households to be unaware of their E-HEAP eligibility. For the reasons that follow, the motion for relief from judgment is denied. The Court concludes that plaintiffs have failed to satisfy any of the requirements necessary for a successful Rule 60(b)(6) motion.

I. Background

The Court assumes familiarity with the facts and background of this case and with the statutory framework governing the distribution of HEAP and E-HEAP benefits in New York City, as discussed in the Court’s March Order. The Court outlines below its decision in the March Order, as well as the newly discovered evidence upon which plaintiffs rely in support of their motion.

A. March Order

In its March Order granting summary judgment in favor of defendants, the Court concluded that: (1) the federal E-HEAP statute did not create a private right of action; (2) the current procedures employed by defendants in administering E-HEAP were constitutionally adequate and no continuing due process violation existed warranting prospective relief; and (3) any retroactive relief for past due process violations relating to E-HEAP were barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Boyland v. Wing, 487 F.Supp.2d 161, 164 (E.D.N.Y.2007).

The Court’s ruling regarding defendants’ procedures in administrating E-HEAP first addressed whether the Job Centers operated by the City failed to provide written notice of adverse E-HEAP eligibility determinations. Id. at 175. Plaintiffs alleged that Utility Liaisons at the Job Centers screened E-HEAP applications and solely passed on to HEAP Central, the body that was supposed to be making E-HEAP determinations, the applications that were considered eligible for the emergency grant. In the March Order, the Court concluded that plaintiffs failed to offer any evidence indicating that Job Center workers did not follow current City procedures and, in practice, denied E-HEAP benefits without referring applicants to HEAP Central. Id. at 177. The Court determined that defendants presented overwhelming evidence that applications for emergency energy assistance were forwarded to HEAP Cen[82]*82tral, which then provided notice of adverse E-HEAP eligibility determinations. Id. at 175. The Court evaluated the procedures implemented by defendants through their Policy Directives and Paperless Office System (“POS”) computer program. First, the Court pointed to E-HEAP Policy Directives, whose provisions were buttressed by affidavits from City administrators, indicating that the Utility Liaisons at the Job Centers had to contact HEAP Central to initiate an E-HEAP application for any person requesting a heat-related grant. Id. at 176. Furthermore, the Court concluded that the defendants implemented policies and programs that assured that the Utility Liaisons were getting the E-HEAP applications. On this point, the Court concluded that Job Center workers who were directly speaking with applicants were filling out the form for energy assistance (the M-858m form (the “Form”)) and passing the Form on to the Utility Liaison to initiate the E-HEAP grant application with HEAP Central. Id. Specifically, the Court concluded that the POS program (1) allowed the Job Center employees to automatically populate relevant portions of the Form, and (2) provided an error message where the Form was not printed, reminding the Job Center employee to print the Form and forward it to a Utility Liaison or scan and index the completed Form. Id.

The March Order not only addressed the role of the Utility Liaison in providing notice of E-HEAP determinations, but also the coding issue raised by plaintiffs. The Court concluded that the risk of erroneous deprivation of due process due to the City’s procedures for identifying PA “heater households,” or households eligible for the E-HEAP emergency grant, was extremely low. Id. at 178. The Court once again pointed to the City’s Policy Directives that instructed Job Center employees on how to indicate in the POS program that an individual applicant for public assistance resided in a household where heat was paid separately from the rent, which made the household eligible for E-HEAP benefits. Id.

In the March Order, the Court relied on the declaration of Michele Shepard, the Director of the POS, filed in support of defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Id. at 176,178 n. 9. In that declaration, she indicated that, by October 22, 2007, the POS program would “automatically, electronically transmit” the Form to HEAP Central. (Deck of Peter Vollmer in Supp. of Mot. for Relief from Judgment dated Feb. 11, 2011 (“Vollmer Deck”) Ex. 3 ¶¶ 1, 17-18 (Supplemental Deck of Michele Shepard dated Feb. 27, 2007).)

B. Newly Discovered Evidence

In support of their motion, plaintiffs rely on Policy Directives issued by defendants after the March Order, data on PA households receiving E-HEAP grants versus state-funded repayable loans since the March Order, as well as on the affidavit of Eugene Doyle (“Doyle”), a social worker licensed to practice in New York State. (Eugene Doyle Aff. Dated Feb. 11, 2011 (“Doyle Aff.”) ¶ 2.)

On August 31, 2009, plaintiffs submitted to defendants a Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) request demanding a database of: (1) all PA heater households who requested assistance to pay heat-related energy expenses since April 1, 2007, and received either an E-HEAP grant, a state-funded loan that was repayable, or a state-funded grant that was not repayable; and (2) the number of PA heater households during any given month covering the same time period regardless of whether they received any heat-related assistance.

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279 F.R.D. 79, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110842, 2011 WL 4532050, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunn-v-kaladjian-nyed-2011.