Published July, 2013

Clark Court Order: Overview, U.S. Social Security Administration (2013)

This page on the Social Security Administration (SSA)'s website details which Social Security beneficiaries are considered members of a class represented in the case of Clark v. Astrue, 274 F.R.D. 462 (S.D.N.Y. 2011). Clark was a class action lawsuit challenging the SSA's "practice of suspending or denying benefits and payments based solely on the existence of a probation or parole violation (PPV) warrant." The case resulted in a federal court order certifying the class of people whose benefits had been suspended as a result of a PPV between October 24, 2006, and May 9, 2011, after which the SSA announced it would no longer suspend or deny Title II benefits or Title XVI payments based solely on a PPV warrant.

The SSA promised to provide both prospective and retroactive relief to class members, although it warned of the possibility of delays in retroactive relief and of having to show "good cause" in the form of the Clark court order in cases where a PPV violation resulted in an automatic denial of benefits.