Background
The Zebley claim was originally denied by the state disability determination services (DDS) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On July 12, 1983, plaintiffs, including Zebley, filed a class action complaint challenging the Social Security Administration (SSA) listing-only policy of evaluating childhood disability claims. Community Legal Services of Philadelphia represented the plaintiffs; Richard Weishaupt argued the case and Jonathan Stein was co-lead counsel.
On July 16, 1986, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted, in part, the request of the Secretary of the HHS for summary judgment. The district court dismissed the class action lawsuit.
The case was subsequently appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. On August 10, 1988, the Third Circuit vacated the district court's dismissal of the class complaint and remanded the case to district court. In doing this, the Third Circuit found that SSA’s interpretation of “comparable severity” was too restrictive and preclusive of an individualized assessment of children’s functional impairments. In response, on February 15, 1989, SSA filed a petition for a writ of certiorari requesting the Supreme Court’s review of the case.
Read more about this topic: Sullivan V. Zebley
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