Garnett v. Zeilinger
Garnett v. Zeilinger
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiffs-recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in the District of Columbia-filed this putative class action against the director of the District's benefit program. They allege several violations of the federal requirements for administration of the program. Plaintiffs now seek to certify two classes of District benefits recipients. Finding that the resolution of their motion is governed by the D.C. Circuit's recent decision in D.L. v. District of Columbia ("D.L. II"),
I. Factual Background
A. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP")
Congress originally enacted the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP") in 1964, seeking to combat hunger and malnutrition by assisting low-income households in purchasing food. See Food Stamp Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-525,
Responsibility for administering SNAP is shared between the federal government and the States. The federal government provides the funding for benefits and covers 50 percent of administrative costs.
Part of these requirements involve the procedure for processing applications for SNAP benefits. For instance, States must allow a household to apply for SNAP benefits the same day that it contacts a SNAP program office in person during office hours.
Eligible households are certified for a specific period of time, known as the "certification period." See
B. Procedural history
In August 2017, a group of D.C. residents filed suit against Laura Zeilinger, the Director of the District's Department of Human Services-which oversees the District's SNAP program-alleging that the District's administration of SNAP was deficient in several respects.
Simultaneously with their complaint, Plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification. Plaintiffs sought to certify two classes: (1) a class of residents whose SNAP benefit applications were not processed in accordance with the timelines mandated by statute and (2) a class of residents who did not receive their recertification notices as required by statute and had their benefits terminated as a consequence. Pls.' Mem. Law. Supp. Mot. Class Certification ("Class Cert. Mot.") at 4. Plaintiffs later filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, and the Court set a parallel briefing schedule for both that motion and the motion for class certification. Following a period of limited discovery related to issues raised in the motion for a preliminary injunction, the parties completed briefing on both motions. The Court held a hearing on both motions on March 19, 2018. It will now resolve Plaintiffs' pending motion for class certification.
II. Legal Standard
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) establishes four requirements for certification of a class: (1) numerosity, that "the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable"; (2) commonality, that "there are questions of law or fact common to the class"; (3) typicality, that "the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class"; and (4) adequacy, that "the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class." Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a). In addition to meeting these four requirements under Rule 23(a), a putative class must also meet one of the requirements of Rule 23(b). Here, Plaintiffs allege that they meet the requirements of Rule 23(b)(2), that "the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds that apply generally to the class, so that final injunctive relief ... is appropriate respecting the class as a whole." Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(2). The party seeking certification bears the burden of persuasion, and must show that the putative classes meet the requirements of Rule 23 by a preponderance of the evidence. See, e.g., Hoyte v. District of Columbia, --- F.R.D. ----, ----,
III. Analysis
The District challenges class certification under both Rule 23(a) and Rule 23(b)(2). Before confronting these challenges, the Court will briefly respond to two threshold arguments the District raises.
A. The District's threshold arguments
First, the District contends that class certification is not appropriate because Plaintiffs cannot meet the requirements for a preliminary injunction. Def.'s Opp'n Pls.' Mot. Class Certification ("Class Cert. Opp'n") at 7-8; Def.'s Surreply Supp. Opp'n Pls.' Mot. Class Certification ("Class Cert. Surreply") at 2-3. The District cites a single case for this proposition:
*205Hardy v. Fischer,
Second, the District argues that class certification is unnecessary because "the 'injunctive relief sought by the named plaintiffs would benefit all proposed class members.' " Class Cert Surreply at 3 (quoting Sargent v. Block,
This argument is unpersuasive in any event. The Court has an obligation to ensure that any injunction it issues is "narrowly tailored to remedy the specific harm shown." Nev. Dep't of Health & Human Servs. v. U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs.,
B. Requirements of Rule 23(a)
The District argues that Plaintiffs fail to show they meet the four requirements for class certification in Rule 23(a). While the District challenges all four requirements, it focuses on commonality and typicality. The Court ultimately concludes that this case is *206analogous to the D.C. Circuit's recent decision in D.L. II and, as there, Plaintiffs have demonstrated that the requirements of class certification in Rule 23(a) are met.
1. Numerosity
The first requirement that must be met for class certification is numerosity: that "the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable." Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(1). To establish numerosity, a party need not provide a precise number of class members as long as there is a reasonable basis to estimate it. See, e.g., Howard v. Liquidity Services Inc.,
With respect to Class One-District residents whose applications for SNAP benefits were and will not be processed in a timely manner-numerosity is easily satisfied. Plaintiffs point to the quarterly compliance reports that the District files with the Food and Nutrition Service, known as "FNS-366B reports." According to the most recent such report-which covers the first quarter of the 2018 fiscal year, October to December 2017-the District approved 4,328 applications after the applicable time limit had passed, 367 initial applications and 3,961 recertification applications. Class Cert. Surreply Ex. B. Most, if not all, of these households would be members of the proposed class since their applications were not processed in accordance with the statutory time limits. Thus, even taking just the applications processed after the statutory time limit in one quarter of one fiscal year, Plaintiffs provide a reason to estimate the proposed class number to be in the hundreds, if not thousands. This presumptively satisfies numerosity, and the District offers no rebuttal to that presumption.
Turning to Class Two-District residents whose benefits were interrupted because they failed to receive a timely recertification notice-the Court concludes that numerosity is also met. Plaintiffs have similarly provided a basis to conclude that this class number is in the hundreds, if not thousands, as well. For instance, Plaintiffs point out that a vendor's error in June 2017 resulted in 4,500 households failing to receive recertification notices and a significant portion of these households losing benefits. Pls.' Reply Ex. 2 (Deposition of Laura Zeilinger), at 130:11. And according to the FNS-366B reports, the District processes around 9,000 to 10,000 recertification applications every quarter. See Class Cert. Surreply Ex. B. (FNS-366B report for first quarter, fiscal year 2018); Decl. of Jennifer Mezey Supp. Pls.' Reply Def.'s Opp'n Pls.' Mot. Prelim. Inj. Ex. P, at 2-4 (FNS-366B reports for second, third, and fourth quarter, fiscal year 2017). Even if just 1% of all the households up for recertification fail to receive notices and lose benefits as a result, the class numbers over 100. This, again, presumptively satisfies numerosity and the District has not rebutted that presumption.
2. Commonality
Second, the classes must meet the requirement of commonality: that "there are questions of law or fact common to the class." Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(2). Commonality requires that the plaintiff class has "suffered the same injury." Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes,
The District argues that Plaintiffs' class certification motion founders at this requirement because "the alleged violations of the SNAP Act and due process are too generalized to demonstrate commonality of claim." Class Cert. Opp'n at 10. There are myriad reasons why an application was not timely processed, the District points out, so "the answer to the question of whether a SNAP Act or due process violation exists will require examination of the facts of each class member, rather than being common to the class." Id. at 11. More specifically, the District contends that the questions presented here will devolve into a "case-by-case examination" to determine whether in any individual class member's case the District violated the SNAP Act timelines and a further case-by-case analysis "to determine what fault, if any, may be attributed to the District" for any such failure. Class Cert. Surreply at 6.
The District's argument has a key underlying premise: that the determination of whether a statutory violation occurred depends upon why a failure to meet the statutory time limit happened. In other words, the District assumes that even if a particular SNAP application is untimely processed or a particular recertification notice is not sent, that may or may not constitute a statutory violation depending on why it happened.
But that is not how the statutory scheme works. Determining if there is a statutory violation does not hinge on the reason for any particular failure to adhere to the statutory timelines. The statute speaks in terms of absolute deadlines without any caveats or limitations when it comes to meeting them. For instance, it provides that "the State agency [administering SNAP] shall ... promptly determine the eligibility of each applicant household ... so as to complete the certification of and provide an allotment retroactive to the period of application to any eligible household not later than thirty days following its filing of an application."
*208This statutory text "impose[s] binding obligations on the States" and "require[s] the allotment of food stamps within a definite number of days." Briggs v. Bremby,
In light of the statutory and regulatory text, the reason why a deadline was missed is irrelevant. Rather, the key question for liability under the statute is whether the District is systemically processing applications and sending recertification notices within the statutory deadlines, not why it has failed to do so in any particular case or on a systemic level. This question can be answered on a class-wide basis.
Given the SNAP timelines' absolute operation, this case is fairly controlled by the D.C. Circuit's decision in D.L. II. In D.L II., the trial court certified a class with four subclasses in a case alleging the District of Columbia had failed to adhere to the "Child Find" requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), which in part obligate states to locate and provide special education services to children and preschoolers with disabilities within certain time limits.
IDEA requires the District to find and serve all children with disabilities as a condition of its funding. Unlike Title VII
*209liability, IDEA liability does not depend on the reason for a defendant's failure and plaintiffs need not show why their rights were denied to establish that they were. They need only show that the District in fact failed to identify them, failed to provide them with timely eligibility determinations, or failed to ensure a smooth transition to preschool.
As in D.L. II, liability here "does not depend on the reason for a defendant's failure and plaintiffs need not show why their rights were denied to establish that they were."
3. Typicality
Next, the classes must meet the requirement of typicality: that "the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class." Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(3). Typicality seeks to assess whether the class representatives "have suffered injuries in the same general fashion as absent class members." Hoyte, --- F.R.D. at ----,
The District's argument as to why typicality is not met is a variation on its argument on commonality. It contends that "factual differences in the type of harm suffered by the putative class members" render the named plaintiffs' claims "atypical of the putative classes." Class Cert. Surreply at 8. In sum, the District maintains that the class cannot be certified "because any purported delay in the processing of applications and recertifications, or the failure to provide adequate notice, requires an individualized case-by-case inquiry." Class Cert. Opp'n at 14.
This argument fails for the same reasons it failed as to commonality. See D.L. II,
The District argues that this is nonetheless insufficient because the fact that the named plaintiffs "suffered 'the same harm' " does not mean that "an alleged District policy or practice injured them and the putative class in the same manner." Class Cert. Opp'n at 13-14. But the District once again assumes that any differences in facts here lead to differences in legal theories or a different manner of injury-which, as discussed above, is not so. Rather, Plaintiffs present a single legal injury, a single legal theory, and a single means of injury: the District has systemically failed to process applications or issue recertification notices on time and consequently violated Plaintiffs' statutory rights under the SNAP Act. As in D.L. II, any factual variations does not undermine typicality. See
4. Adequacy
The final of the four preliminary requirements is adequacy: that "the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class." Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(4). The D.C. Circuit recognizes two criteria for determining adequacy: (1) that the named plaintiffs "must not have antagonistic or conflicting interests with the unnamed members of the class" and (2) that the named representatives "must appear able to vigorously prosecute the interests of the class through qualified counsel." Hoyte, --- F.R.D. at ----,
The District argues that the second requirement is not met. While the District takes no position on adequacy of class counsel, Class Cert. Opp'n at 17; Class Cert. Surreply at 9 n.2, it argues that the named plaintiffs do not have sufficient knowledge and information to adequately represent the absent class members. But adequacy "does not require either that the proposed class representatives have legal knowledge or a complete understanding of the representative's role in class litigation." Thorpe v. District of Columbia,
C. Requirements of Rule 23(b)(2)
In addition to the four preliminary requirements in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a), a proposed class must meet one of the three requirements of Rule 23(b). Plaintiffs contend they meet the requirements of Rule 23(b)(2), namely that "the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds that apply generally to the class, so that final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief is appropriate respecting the class as a whole." In other words, Rule 23(b)(2) requires that "a single injunction or declaratory judgment would provide relief to each member of the class." Wal-Mart,
The District's argument to the contrary is a continued variation on the theme of its arguments on commonality and typicality: factual differences mean that plaintiffs "have not established the 'similar grounds' required to justify certification ... nor is there any 'single injunction or declaratory judgment' that could provide relief to the class as a whole." Class Cert. Opp'n at 18.
The Court disagrees. Plaintiffs here present a single practice causing each class's injury-namely, the District's systemic failure to meet the timelines in the SNAP Act for processing applications and issuing recertification notices. How or why the District may be doing so is irrelevant; all that matters, as already explained, is whether the District is missing the deadlines. If it is, that injury can be remedied by a single injunction ordering the District to comply with the statutory timelines.
Once again, this case is more akin to D.L. II than the cases that the District relies on. The district court in D.L. II entered an order requiring, among other things, that the District attain a 95% compliance rate with statutory time limits for evaluating children for disability services and for providing transition services for children, along with annual improvement rates. D.L. II,
IV. Conclusion
The District's primary argument against class certification-made with slight variations as to the requirements of commonality, typicality, and Rule 23(b)(2) -is that Plaintiffs' claims are too factually diverse and their legal theory too broadly defined to sustain a class action. But the statutory scheme provides the requisite level of *212specificity: it sets clear timelines for handling SNAP benefit applications and recertification notices and clearly mandates that States follow them. See
The Court's conclusion that the requirements for class certification are met here is further buttressed by the fact that other district courts have certified similar classes in SNAP benefit cases. See, e.g., Briggs v. Bremby,
However, the Court will certify three, rather than two, classes. Because the statutory scheme is slightly different with regards to the processing of recertification as opposed to initial applications, in an abundance of caution and to avoid any possible conflicts of interest the Court will subdivide the first proposed class into two classes: one of residents whose initial applications were not processed on time and one of residents whose recertification applications were not processed on time. The Court may, of course, revisit certification or class definitions as the litigation progresses.
* * *
For the foregoing reasons, it is hereby
ORDERED that [2] Plaintiffs' Motion for Class Certification is GRANTED. The Court will certify three classes with the following named representatives.
Class 1:
Definition : All District of Columbia residents since June 1, 2016: (1) who have applied, are applying, or will apply for SNAP benefits, through an initial application; and (2) who have had or will have the processing of such application delayed beyond the timeframes mandated by law.
Class representatives : Shonice G. Garnett, Richard Messick, Jr.
Class 2:
Definition : All District of Columbia residents since June 1, 2016: (1) who have applied, are applying, or will apply for SNAP benefits, through a recertification application; and (2) who have had or will have the processing of such application delayed beyond the timeframes mandated by law.
Class representatives : Kathryn Harris, Linda Murph *213Class 3:
Definition : All District of Columbia SNAP recipients since June 1, 2016: (1) who have been or will be required to submit a recertification application to maintain SNAP benefits; (2) as to whom the Defendant has failed or will fail to issue notice of the need to recertify; and (3) who have been or will be terminated from participation in SNAP due to Defendant's failure to issue such notice.
Class representatives: James Stanley, Roderick Gaines
SO ORDERED .
The program began as the "Food Stamp Program" and the name was changed to SNAP in 2008. See Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-234, § 4001,
Although Zeilinger is the sole defendant in this case, the Court will use "the District" to refer to the defendant here.
Plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction will be addressed in a forthcoming ruling.
In addition, it is not clear that the Court can or should issue class-wide injunctive relief without a certified class. See, e.g., Brown v. Trustees of Boston Univ.,
According to the Department of Agriculture's regulations, "[a]n application is filed the day the appropriate food stamp office receives an application containing the applicant's name and address, which is signed by either a responsible member of the household or the household's authorized representative."
The regulations promulgated by the Department of Agriculture echo this absolute timeliness requirement. See
This strict compliance requirement is not undermined by the fact that regulations from the Department of Agriculture discuss how to determine who is at fault for any delay in the processing of an application. See
The Court is, of course, cognizant of the fact that 100% perfect compliance may not be possible and does not intend this discussion to suggest a position on the underlying merits of this case or on whether injunctive relief is appropriately granted for any rate of compliance short of 100%. Cf. Withrow v. Concannon,
See Class Cert. Mot. Ex. 2, ¶¶ 14-15 (Declaration of Shonice G. Garnett);
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Shonice G. GARNETT v. Laura ZEILINGER
- Cited By
- 16 cases
- Status
- Published