Victory in McCormick!

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

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Victory in McCormick!
03/04/2011

Alameda County may not deny subsistence benefits to a seven-year-old boy with no other means of support, the Court of Appeal has held. Read more..

Alameda County may not deny subsistence benefits to a seven-year-old boy with no other means of support, the Court of Appeal has held. McCormick v. County of Alameda, Cal.App. 4^th , 2011 WL 712160 (March 2, 2011). The court ruled that Dajohn McCormick’s enrollment in CalWORKs did not disqualify him from County General Assistance because he was receiving no CalWORKs cash aid.

Dajohn lost his cash aid because of an application of the CalWORKs Maximum Family Grant rule, which refuses to count the needs of a child born to a mother receiving aid. When Dajohn was born, his mother, an SSI recipient with a permanent total disability, and his older brother Derrick, were receiving a one-person CalWORKs grant of $398. The grant remained the same when Dajohn was born, but when Derrick moved out of the household CalWORKs cash aid ended altogether because of the MFG rule. Dajohn then applied for General Assistance, but the County turned him down, pointing to his technical eligibility for CalWORKs.

Dajohn argued and the Court of Appeal agreed. The court, in a unanimous opinion written by Presiding Judge Anthony Kline, concluded that “the idea that Dajohn should be denied GA because he ‘qualified’ for CalWORKs rests on a faction, as he had no means of actual relief and support aside from GA.”

Dajohn was represented by the Western Center on Law and Poverty and East Bay Community Law Center.

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