58 A.D.2d 887 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1977
In anaction, inter alia, to declare invalid the practice and policy of the defendants-respondents, of securing confessions of judgment from welfare recipients who have received overpayments of public assistance benefits, the appeal is from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County, dated December 1, 1976, which (1) denied plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, (2) denied plaintiffs’ application to deem this a class action, (3) granted partial summary judgment to respondents by declaring that their practice of securing confessions of judgment is carried out pursuant to lawful authority and (4) dismissed the complaint. Order modified, on the law, by (1) adding to the second decretal paragraph thereof, after the words "lawful authority”, the following: "except that the practice and policy of the defendants in securing confessions of judgment from those recipients of public assistance who received overpayments solely as a result of administrative error, and who are still receiving benefits, is declared invalid” and (2) adding to the fourth decretal paragraph thereof, after the word "hereby”, the word "otherwise”. As so modified, order affirmed, without costs or disbursements. In our opinion, respondents’ practice and policy of securing confessions of judgment from those who have received overpayments of welfare benefits is not invalid in the following two circumstances: (1) where the recipients honestly sought and received public assistance but were ultimately found to be ineligible; and (2) where the recipient sought and received public assistance by fraudulent means or representations. In the case of those who have received overpayments of benefits solely as a result of administrative error, and are still receiving benefits, the exclusive remedy is "recoupment” out of future payments (see Social Services Law, § 106-b). In such situations there is no warrant or authority for extracting a confession of judgment and it seems clear that because the benefit recipient is at least at the apparent mercy of the Department of Social Services, any confession of judgment would, in the very nature of things, be a coerced one. In the other two situations, however, we do not agree with the plaintiffs-