The Third Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Rumsey, modifying Supreme Court, determined the amount of an applicant’s equity in an automobile, not the fair market value (FMV), should be used in calculating whether an applicant is eligible for public assistance. Here the applicant owed more than the car was worth, but she was erroneously deemed ineligible because of the fair market value of the car. The Third Department further determined that the applicant was entitled to discovery in her effort to get class action certification seeking retroactive relief for persons who had been wrongly denied public assistance under similar circumstances:
Only the net amount that could be received upon the sale of an asset that is encumbered by an outstanding loan balance, i.e., the FMV less the outstanding loan balance, could be available to eliminate or reduce an applicant’s need for public assistance. The arbitrary nature of OTDA’s [Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance’s] contrary position is aptly illustrated in this case, where the sale of the vehicle would not have generated any resources that petitioner could have used to meet her own support needs. Indeed, based on the automobile’s FMV, she would not have received enough upon its sale to pay the entire outstanding loan balance. For these reasons, we conclude that Supreme Court properly held that the extent to which the FMV of an automobile that exceeds the exempt amount is an available resource must be determined based on the applicant’s equity interest therein, and that OTDA’s contrary interpretation was irrational and unreasonable. * * *
… [T]he present record does not permit identification of the number of individuals who were the subject of adverse action based on application of respondent’s erroneous rule within the specified time period. The petition seeks a judgment directing respondent to identify all individuals meeting the characteristics of the proposed class and, in her brief on appeal, she again seeks discovery regarding class size. Timely requests for disclosure on the issue of numerosity must be granted … . Matter of Stewart v Roberts, 2018 NY Slip Op 04609, Third Dept 6-21-18
SOCIAL SERVICES LAW (PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, IN DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE THE APPLICANT’S EQUITY IN AN AUTOMOBILE, NOT ITS FAIR MARKET VALUE, MUST BE CONSIDERED, THE APPLICANT WAS ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TO DETERMINE HOW MANY OTHERS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE WRONG ASSET-CALCULATION TECHNIQUE IN SEEKING CLASS CERTIFICATION (THIRD DEPT))/PUBLIC ASSISTANCE (WAS ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TO DETERMINE HOW MANY OTHERS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE WRONG ASSET-CALCULATION TECHNIQUE IN SEEKING CLASS CERTIFICATION (THIRD DEPT))/CIVIL PROCEDURE (CLASS ACTIONS, DISCOVERY , NUMEROSITY, IN DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE THE APPLICANT’S EQUITY IN AN AUTOMOBILE, NOT ITS FAIR MARKET VALUE, MUST BE CONSIDERED, THE APPLICANT WAS ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TO DETERMINE HOW MANY OTHERS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE WRONG ASSET-CALCULATION TECHNIQUE IN SEEKING CLASS CERTIFICATION (THIRD DEPT))/CLASS ACTIONS (DISCOVERY, NUMEROSITY, IN DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE THE APPLICANT’S EQUITY IN AN AUTOMOBILE, NOT ITS FAIR MARKET VALUE, MUST BE CONSIDERED, THE APPLICANT WAS ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TO DETERMINE HOW MANY OTHERS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE WRONG ASSET-CALCULATION TECHNIQUE IN SEEKING CLASS CERTIFICATION (THIRD DEPT))/DISCOVERY (CLASS ACTIONS, NUMEROSITY, IN DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE THE APPLICANT’S EQUITY IN AN AUTOMOBILE, NOT ITS FAIR MARKET VALUE, MUST BE CONSIDERED, THE APPLICANT WAS ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TO DETERMINE HOW MANY OTHERS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE WRONG ASSET-CALCULATION TECHNIQUE IN SEEKING CLASS CERTIFICATION (THIRD DEPT))/NUMEROSITY (CLASS ACTIONS, DISCOVERY, IN DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC ASSISTANCE THE APPLICANT’S EQUITY IN AN AUTOMOBILE, NOT ITS FAIR MARKET VALUE, MUST BE CONSIDERED, THE APPLICANT WAS ENTITLED TO DISCOVERY TO DETERMINE HOW MANY OTHERS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE WRONG ASSET-CALCULATION TECHNIQUE IN SEEKING CLASS CERTIFICATION (THIRD DEPT))