SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Office of Hearings and Appeals
HALLEX
Volume I
Transmittal No. I-5-4-11 (Revised)
Division 5: Temporary Instructions
Subject: Johnson, et al. v. Sullivan
NOTE:
Pursuant to Public Law 103-296, the Social Security Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994, the functions of the Secretary of Health and Human Services in Social Security cases were transferred to the Commissioner of Social Security, effective March 31, 1995.
Background
On August 6, 1992, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) published HALLEX Temporary Instruction (TI) 5-411 to implement the procedures set forth in the April 3, 1991 order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in the Johnson, et al. v. Sullivan class action involving the “not severe” impairment issue. The TI delineates OHA component responsibilities, including the responsibilities of the then-existing Office of Civil Actions (OCA) and the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO), for such actions as receiving and processing alerts, screening cases, sending notices to potential class members, and routing cases. On February 6, 1995, OCA was merged into OAO and the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation. OAO assumed responsibility for the functions previously performed by the OCA operating divisions.
Beginning August 1, 1996, any organization that receives funding from Legal Services Corporation may not participate in any class action against the Federal government. (Public Law 104-134, sections 504(a)(7), 508 (b)(2)(B), 110 Stat. 1321 (1996).) As a result, John Bouman, Robert Lehrer, Theodora Rand, Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, Suite 700, 343 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60604 have been replaced by John Bouman, Attorney, Poverty Law Project, National Clearinghouse for Legal Services, 205 West Monroe, 2nd Floor, Chicago Illinois 60606 as the Johnson attorney.
Explanation of Content and Changes
The change in OAO's functional responsibilities with respect to class action implementation necessitates a change in the TI provisions with respect to component responsibilities for processing the Johnson class action. The implementation workload previously handled by OCA will now be processed by OAO through the OAO Class Action Coordinator. The attached replacement pages provide the addresses for the receipt in OAO of the Johnson alerts and screening sheets, and clarify that OAO, through the OAO Class Action Coordinator, is now responsible for the class action processing functions formerly performed by the OCA operating divisions.
The substitution of plaintiffs' counsel is noted throughout the TI.
Remove
Remove from 5-400, Court Cases:
Pages 1-18 of TI 5-411, dated August 6, 1992 (18 pages).
Attachments 2, 6 and 11 of TI 5-411 (4 pages).
Insert
Insert in 5-400, Court Cases:
Pages 1-20 of TI 5-411 (Revised), dated March 21, 1997 (20 pages).
Attachments 2, 6 and 11 of TI 5-411 (Revised), dated March 21, 1997 (4 pages).
Date: March 21, 1997
