The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio has entered a decision in favor of the Plaintiffs in the Steigerwald v. Berryhill class action. The case has to do with the computation of benefits to which a claimant is entitled in a case where both Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are both approved and the claimant is represented. To oversimplify, the needs based SSI benefits are supposed to be reduced because of the DIB payments. However, a represented claimant does not receive the entire DIB payment because some of it is used to pay the attorney. Should the SSI benefits be reduced by money the claimant never sees because it's used to pay the attorney? The Court held that the answer is no.
If they can't get this reversed, and I doubt they will, Social Security is going to have to do a lot of recomputations. This isn't computerized. It's all manual. This will be a nightmare for an agency as shorthanded as Social Security is.
We'll see but I guess that Social Security will appeal, not because they think they can win on appeal, but to stall. I get the impression that there's a lot of stalling going on at Social Security. Everything is being put off until there's a confirmed Commissioner. Maybe they can stall this one until the agency gets better funding.
89 comments:
The agency is already in a literal panic over it. The problem is not the workload - there are always class actions, some bigger than others.
The problem in this case is that the judge ordered all the work to be done within 90 days.
So, a lot of other work isn't going to get done or will be significantly delayed (like, for months on top of the months it already takes) unless the agency is successful in getting that 90 day time frame extended.
I was on the staff initially tasked with implementing windfall offset (not the policy, blame others for that), but trying to make that policy work and write the instructions. I'm sure thousands of CRs have cursed us for how this "works" but it was something our systems simply could not handle then. The concept seems so simple. Pretend that the T2 dib was paid on time, so calculate what SSI would have been received had the T2 been paid on time. How hard can that be? We came up with a lot of ways to try and automate or reduce the amount of manual work but the SSI program requirements regarding income and calculations got in the way of easy. Couple what can already be a complex calculation on just what was already paid in SSI and throw in what this "what if" income does and its a horrible calculation. IN a way we shot ourselves in the foot if one thinks about the money "saved" from "payments not due" versus the administrative drag and cost implementing this has been.
Judge can order it done tomorrow, it isn't going to happen. Nobody expects it to happen in 90 days. Really there is no repercussions if it isn't done in 90 days, nobody going to jail, and fining SSA is laughable.
P.S. there is an error in the title, wordload not workload.
re: 9:18am,
Well, they (upper management) are taking that 90 day deadline very, very seriously. Detailed plans have already been made to draft a lot of PSC and field personnel into special units that will do nothing but compute and process those 130,000 windfall offsets 8 hours per day, 5 days a week (and probably with unlimited overtime offered). The employees assigned to these units did not volunteer, they were called in by management and told "this is now your job" with no opportunity provided to refuse the assignment. Field management has even been instructed that those unit employees are not even to be answering phone calls to their desks for anything not associated with that offset workload.
One of the things that will happen is that 800 number wait times are going to increase -- during this workload project, the PSCs are not going to be SPIKEing (answering overflow from the TSCs). So, expect foot traffic in offices to increase significantly as well (just about the time all the involved claimants start getting their class letters and calling asking "where is my money?").
And, honestly, I don't know what has them in such a panic over this particular class action. It isn't like they haven't happened before.
I'm presuming it is probably an idiot thing - the more members of upper level management you gather into a meeting, the more IQ points that they collectively loose and the more stupid things they do trying to plan out how to do something they had no clue how to do in the first place.
I just know it is going to be a major mess.
@8:37
130,000 (approximate claimants affected) x $6,000 (improperly reduced SSI benefits in lieu of DIB already being reduced by attorney fees) = $780,000,000
Seems like something to want to resolve quickly. Also, not sure how 406(b) and eaja works in a class action. Court holds they are available, amount to be determined at a later date, on pages 8-9. My math could be off, and I am uncertain if assuming $6,000 is appropriate, but that seems reasonable given that is the fee agreement cap. In any event, it is a large amount of money.
Kind of like the converse of the SDW cases
I understood it was the fee petition, not the fee agreement cases that need to be recomputed. The problem in the past was that the agency created a workaround to speed up the release of the retroactive benefits before the fee petition was computed. So a pseudo windfall offset comp was done using a pretend fee agreement of $.01. Months later, when the fee petition was determined, the offset was supposed to be recomped. But there was no mechanism to inform the FO that the fee petition was approved, so no recomp was done. If you really understand windfall offset, the manual comp, although complex, may not be as difficult. They should hire me back.
The money that was paid to the attorneys shows up on a 1099 as income for the claimant as it was due them but was paid to the attorney because claimants aren't trustworthy enough to do it themselves. Is SSI going to only count net wages instead of gross because the claimant only receives the net, he or she doesn't get the money taken out for SSA taxes, insurance, etc?
@3:00
It could happen in either fee agreement or fee petition cases. Here's how I understand it:
1, Title II/DIB benefits offset Title XVI/SSI benefits.
2, Attorney fees were released prior to offset being calculated.
3, The fees exceeded withheld benefits (after offset).
4, Future benefits were withheld/suspended to compensate for the attorney fees.
5, Title XVI/SSI benefits should have been recalculated at this point, as Title II/DIB benefits had been suspended in order to recoup the attorney fees, reducing the offset, increasing the benefits overall.
The error impacts the amount of benefits received, but also eligibility since Title XVI benefits are countable income under Title II. So it's a pretty big mess.
I am a retired SSI TE who worked windfall offset throughout my career, back to 1981. I still think that the windfall offset on fee petition cases was frequently completed incorrectly because of the workaround sanctioned by SSA. Since no SSDI retroactive benefits can be correctly paid before offset is completed and fee petitions take longer, as a rule, than fee agreement cases, the workaround allowed the FO to input a fictitious windfall offset but there was no consistent mechanism for controlling the recomp to be done after the fee petition was finally determined. So many did not get redone. Also, I did not see that many cases involving paying fees from future benefits, although I am sure it happened.
Oh, and Title XVI is not countable income for Title II; the opposite is true. Title II is countable income for Title XVI.
@2:47
SSI does not count those income taxes when they are refunded after the tax return is filed. Nor do they reduce countable wages by insurance that is paid directly by check so it would be illogical to reduce it by insurance paid by withholding. When someone uses payroll withholding to pay insurance, it just means the employer is paying the bill for you. You can still decline the insurance. So SSI does not go up for people who have higher bills than those who do not.
@2:36 PM but making the claimants wait 6+ months for their backpay is a disservice also. In addition, no manegement I ever knew of was aware of these cases. All they want is the offset worked within 90 days whether it was done right or not.
No, it's about SSDI claimants that WOULD qualify for back SSI payments due to the attorneys fee's reducing the amount of SSDI after deducting from it.Because SSA failed to deduct the attorneys fee's from the calculations,people that would not otherwise qualify will receive back SSI benefits.
When do you think we will get paid and if so how much each do you think
Please tell that to the plaintiff on this case.
How can I find out if I am going to get any money? I personally don't think I got all that I was supposed to get.
I don't know where I fit in? I received back pay from SSI which paid lawyer and G.A. then before I received (thought) my 1st check. I was deemed better and I'll be revaluted in 2 yrs. Which is this May. Can someone help me with this? Thank you..D Wagner
Has anyone received any back pay yet? 2019
I was wondering after the recalculations are done. Will your monthly benefit increase.
I hope so it will be a blessing.
Is this only for people who did not get any back pay?
Has anyone got a letter saying how much you're going to get,or if you're going to get anything?
I've been wondering the same thing.
I wish they would send something to let you know if you are getting something at this point no one knows anything and how do we know if social security isn't just skipping over cases saying that you are not getting any thing to not have to process it.
Yeah I would like to know as well
Received a letter from ssa saying they should have sent me that letter in 2013 they kept 4 thousand to pay my attorneys and they was only suppose to pay them 3hundred and 25 dollars will I receive the difference after 6 years
Yes you should receive all money that they had either over payed your attorney or held back to pay your attorney. I was charged 11 thousand to pay my attorney and my wife payed her attorney 17 thousand dollars, we had both waited 5 year's to get our disability approved and I have waited 11 year's for SS to do my Subtraction Recalculation and my wife has waited about 5 year's, both of us have received supposed overpayments when we asked about thousands missing from our back pay and even after winning my appeal on my overpayments SS still took money from every check for several years to pay for the supposed overpayment so I am not a huge fan of how they do business.
I would like to know how long before we know anything about our money
They kept $6000 from me for attorney fees and the lawyer dropped my case for moving to a different state so I had to fight the last 2 years on my own. He didnt deserve the full $6000 he didnt complete the case I DID ! Then ss charged for food when I was on food stamps then charged me $400 for room & board and social security did not provide anything to me so I feel social security committed fraud claiming these withdrawals of my money for these reasons just to not give me what I was suppose to get !!!
Look @ the Steigerwald vs Berryhill website. Gives you updates regarding our money.
Actually it doesn't give us updates about the money. It only updates on court proceedings and progress on SS's end. I've not seen anyone get any information on when, if, and how much they are getting paid, on that site. That's what people are wanting to know.
My attorney fees was 5700,i thank god for whatever owed to me.
Why have we the plaintiff's
Have by been notified
Just playing the waiting
Game
But if you owe them
They snatch it Right away
Even if not your mistake
But theirs
And not even let you make
Payments took
My payments for 6 whole
Months the whole check
What a hard ship
You should appeal it. I would. The ssa think they know it all. They're a bunch of idiots ad evidence by they think they got away with this in the first place. They don't know what they're doing and I would appeal it.
My attorney was supposed to get like no more than 5300 but after six years of appeals my attorney call's me and that this is the offer social security is offering that if I let them keep 15,000 dollars of my backtime that they would give me life time disability with no checkups or anything. So what's really going on with that social security office never contacted me about that but that's what my lawyer said that was in 2005 I was going to be atotal of around 44,000 dollars I only received 28,600 never heard or signed any paperwork but they 15000 dollars and I guess they also made me pay his fee of 5300 dollars I don't know I saw no paper work or hard nothing else until I found out that I was in lawsuit..
When you hear from SS, I would appeal it. The SSA isn't showing how they came up with the amount they decided to give you. I find it very hard to believe that they have already said almost half of us will not receive a dime. It doesn't make sense to me. I would appeal their decision and ask for a breakdown of their so-called calculation. I would bet the majority of them are incorrect. They don't know what they're doing.
Is it to late to file a claim this happened to me this is my first time hearing about it
Has anyone received any updates?
Good luck getting money!! I just received the letter in reference to this and their miscalculations led to me owing mo eye not receiving money. I either pay them within 30 days or they stop paying me any money until paid off. I know my attorney fee was withheld at more than she billed for so I really don't understand the whole basis for this case??
That's awful. Anyone that repay money back, shouldn't have to pay back entire amount within 30 days. The reasonable thing to do is to take a certain amount of money out of check each month until the amount repaid. How can u survive without receiving your check. That's just plain heartless.
I would like to know when I will be paid back pay from recalculations..
Appeal it. Make them show how they came to that conclusion.
If you end up owing SS. You can workout a payment plan. It is on SS web site.
Does anybody have any news to report I would like to know if anyone got letters from SSA
I have not heard one single word.
Thanks
I finally got a letter from SSA but no explanation why they came up with their decision I wonder if I should appeal it.
What was the decision? If you have to pay back. Contact the SS office and work out a payment plan. Before they doc full monthly payments.
I thought finalization of this classaction is over the completion date that was given by the court.
I too have not gotten any correspondence, When is too late or over? Anyone?
The appeals court gave them 2 years to do it with no consequences if they don't.
Hello,
I am the 25 year old son of a deceased class member. My father (a class member) passed away in 2015.
I have received a letter from the SSA about this class lawsuit regarding recalculation of past due payment amounts. I am trying to understand what this means and am working from almost zero knowledge about this case.
Did my dad owe money to the SSA? Does his passing change this? I am not sure what to do. I would be truly grateful for anyone's help or opinion whatsoever.
I received a letter from SS. Stating i owe my lawyer 115.35. It did not say it was a result of the lawsuit. I called SS and they did not know. I want to buy a newer car. But don't want to get stuck with not being able to keep payments up. If my case has not been processed. And i owe much more.
I received a letter 4/25 stating that I am a class member of this lawsuit. It states “We have recalculated you’re past-due payment amount. Your appointed representative (who is not my attorney!) fees did not change your past-due payment amount.” What does this mean? It’s the first I’ve heard of this class action and I’m very concerned about what to do in terms of appealing the decision. Please someone advise me what this all means!
I just reviewed that very same letter and I don’t quite understand what it means. So I also need help answering that question. What do I do ⁉️ Can someone please help‼️
Blogger anniemon said...
''I received a letter 4/25 stating that I am a class member of this lawsuit. It states “We have recalculated you’re past-due payment amount. Your appointed representative (who is not my attorney!) fees did not change your past-due payment amount.” What does this mean? It’s the first I’ve heard of this class action and I’m very concerned about what to do in terms of appealing the decision. Please someone advise me what this all means!''
It means you don't owe them. And they don't owe you. At least you don't need to pay them back anything,
I didn't even know I was involved in this (never got a letter or anything) but got a large payment deposited into my account 3 days ago and received a letter today explaining why I had received the money. Well, basically just referenced the lawsuit. Btw, I filed for SSDI in 2010, and was approved 6 months later in 2011. Regardless, what an unexpected and much needed BLESSING!
I never received any letter telling me about the lawsuit so I was shocked and surprised when I received a large payment deposited into my account 3 days ago (5/13/2020).
Today I received a letter explaining why I received said money.
Btw, I filed for SSDI in 2010, and was approved 8 months later in 2011.
Regardless, what a pleasant and much needed blessing!
Good luck to everyone else!
I’m so confused!! This lawsuit has led them to taking money from me. My car was determined back in 2004 and every few years they say they’ve overpaid me and take all or half of my checks. This has caused great financial hardship and now it’s happening again.
I just got an over payment notice from Social Security for the class action lawsuit thing .. I called Social Security because i had no idea i was part of this nor have i received any monies from this Steigerwald v. Berryhill lawsuit. I was/am at an OMG whats going moment. Social security also saw this information and had no idea what was going on and said first that wouldn't be your fault and u shouldn't have to pay back. and second you haven't even received any payment and you got an over payment letter already!!!? I was told they are going to investigate my file and call me back. Also said that records show payments go out in June 2020. Didn't say for how much. But i'm thinking its going to be something like $6600.00 I may be wrong.. But my over payment is over $4000 Which is BS. I never got anything so i haven't been over paid. GRRRRR
How much will the check be?
I never received any letter about any of this, but somehow got swept up into it. I was awarded $27k for a closed period like four years ago, but never got a penny. They'd did pay my lawyer 6k but supposedly my money is held up due to this suit. Has this happened to anyone else? What can I do?
What I would love to know why was this done in the first place, why would the SSA office not recalculate 129,000 people, its simple math 2 from 6 leaves 4 , I think that someone figured out how to use this money for there own benefit and thought after all these years it would never be seen, but guess what, a bunch of us told this story for many years before someone investigated it .......like I said why did they not recalculate???
No status report since July 30th. Which they been doing them every 2 weeks. Plus, the Plaintiffs filed a Notice of Withdrawal of Joseph D. Wilson as counsel for plaintiffs on July 31, 2020. Anyone know what is going on??? Are they finished doing the recalculations or what.
I got my letter the other day said I would get a check for x amount of money unsure when it will come.
Any number or email to contact about this??
I got a letter from ssa saying that they recalculated and I owe $3400. They were going to take my check until it was all paid back. They said I had 30 day's to appeal. I appealed but they had already took my whole check. The lady I talked to you could tell she did not understand it either. And you could tell they did not care.
I wrote this on SS Fb page
You are screwing SSD individuals over the stupid class action lawsuit that people were put into without wanting to be .. so years later you come to individuals claiming they owe you ??? It’s a scam , a government scam to rob us of our disability income .. not SsI, but SSD..
this stupid case
https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20190128a22
Then SS administration without any proof is illegally taking disability checks ftom individuals needing their disability check .. money that we paid into ... not SSI....
And your local offices are closed due to covid , your phone representatives are of no help at all, and can barely speak English .
Legal forms were mailed to Social security on this matter to dispute the amounts owed but yet SS lies and say that you never got the mailed forms ! This is all a set up to illegally take money from disabled people to cover your problems with the money you owe from that case ! SS is taking advantage and Robbing disabled individuals !!!
Can someone tell me why social security is saying I was overpaid? Now they are saying that they will start taking my whole check?
I just received a letter that I was overpaid. By over $6000. Now they will take my whole check if I don't pay it back within 30 days. I'm not understanding this at all? I didn't even know of a lawsuit until today
Charles - Check the Website--almost done with all cases--The lackey for the class (retired Technical Expert from a small Ohio could not have been more wrong in his deposition that "Windfalls are easy" ). Note the "huge" $$$ in class counsel fees. RE: Overpayments- claimants should file waivers. Without fault should be a given , however given that this is predominantly T2 "ability to repay" comes into play. Claimants may have to exhaust all appeals for relief.
Court reduced Class Counsel Fees. They requested 20% . Court awarded 15 % , still "huge". Seems like blanket waivers are being applied as Overpayments are deemed to be > 4 years old ( in most cases) .
It's not your responsibility nor your fight.The dead don't receive money, therefore they can't pay nor argue the point. My advice to you is: return a copy of the letter(but keep a copy)& send a copy of the death certificate. &move on with your life before this unnecessary foolishness cause you to have a stroke or heart attack!
Called SSI myself. They told me they mailed me a check out on September of last year. I moved to another state. Luckily, it wasn't cashed and they are either going to direct deposit or mail out another check. Going to take 30 to 60 days.
As of January,2023,this is the newest information. Received a letter from Ss. It specified,that I am owed money from a lawsuit. I wasn't aware of any. They also went on the say,in the previous letter that we sent you. There was no previous letter. Anyway,it goes on to say that after, December,2022,if there are no objections,the money will be sent out 15 days after the 21st,of December,2022. Well,I'm waiting. They gave me an amount,but doesn't seem right. That's all I know.
I just received a letter dated January 8th that I will get $3300 $420 of that goes to the attorney but it doesn't say how or when to expect payment
I finally received a letter dated 1/8/23 telling me my amount but not how it would be paid?
I received my letter yesterday but I have changed banks since then so not sure how I'll receive my $3400
No it was a class action suit for miscalculating. I received a letter 1/8/23 stating I am due a payment of $3400
The appeal was won in September I received my letter 2 days ago
My letter gave me an amount but thej explained the fee withheld for class action lawyer. If I had questions I had I could call. It then said it was sending a letter to my representative. No idea who that is. My attorney passed away years ago. Never said how payment would be made
From the lawsuit or from your recalculated past due benefits?
You’re also entitled to the summary judgment for additional benefits as well. The courts awarded Stephanie Steigerwald and 70,780 class members over 106million dollars!!! 15.9m was awarded to the class counsel.
Because it’s too high of an amount?
Was anyone heard anything else about payout on the steigerwald case? I got the first letter saying my dead mom maybe due benefits nothing else , any help in information is greatly appreciated, this is all so confusing
Ironically enough, much like everyone else, I too received a letter saying I was owed backpay. I got the letter in mid-December though.
The problem is that the letter was worded VERY carefully, simply focusing on the fact that they had already sent me $132 (which I received back in mid-November) because of money that was withheld to pay the current legal fees. It went further to say that with the miscalculation of my backpay, I was found to have been owed and additional $2,700. Then it stated that $400 of that was going to more fees.
However, it made no mention of when, or even IF, I'd receive the additional $2,400. There was NOTHING explaining anything further talking about if that was going to be sent to me or going towards something else. What the letter focused on the MOST was JUST the $132 they already sent to me from money they had withheld for the current legal team.
So, I essentially have NO idea if all I'm getting is that mere $132, despite the $2,700/$2,400 that was supposed to be awarded to me.
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