The Legal Aid Society brought this lawsuit to challenge disability-related discrimination faced by public benefits recipients on behalf of a low-income mother of four whose subsistence level benefits and Food Stamps were reduced for six months after she missed a welfare office appointment because she fractured her ankle and was at the emergency room. The suit challenged both these sanctions and New York City and State’s policies and practices which denied individuals with disabilities willing to comply with welfare-to-work policies timely reinstatement of their benefits following sanction periods.

Following the suit’s filing, the New York City Human Resources Administration paid retroactive benefits to Ms. Wilson and expunged the sanction. Ms. Wilson was also subsequently made eligible for federal Supplemental Security Income benefits, exempting her from public assistance work requirements. As a result, the suit dismissed for mootness.