Lopez

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

This is a proposed class action against the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, challenging procedures used in terminating Social Security disability benefits. The plaintiffs are twenty assertedly disabled individuals and fourteen organizations, the former bringing suit on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated. Eighteen of the plaintiffs also seek to have the terminations of their individual benefits reversed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405 (g). The plaintiffs have filed motions for vacation of reference to the magistrate, class certification and prelimi nary injunction; the defendants have filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The defendants’ motion is denied and the plaintiffs’ motions are granted, as set forth in the terms of the order filed with this memorandum.

Beginning in March 1981, the Social Security Administration (SSA) noticeably accelerated the rate at which it reviews the disability status of those receiving disability benefits. In the calendar year 1980,185,639 Continuing Disability Investigations (CDIs) were conducted; in the fiscal year 1982, 435,262 CDIs…