The Legal Aid Society filed this class action lawsuit on behalf of low-income public benefits recipients to challenge New York’s failure to timely provide fair hearings in response to an action by the City to discontinue, suspend, reduce, or restrict their benefits. In 1995, a federal trial court held that the City’s termination of benefits to individuals waiting for a fair hearing was illegal, ruling that “[t]o indigent persons, the loss of even a portion of subsistence benefits constitutes irreparable injury.” In 1996, a special master required the City to put in place procedures to ensure that people continue to receive benefits until their hearing. In 2012, we entered into a settlement agreement with the City and State setting strict timelines for the processing and implementation of continuing aid once a fair hearing has been requested, which we monitored until 2015.