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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Client Stories

Class action relieves hunger for many
Dawn is disabled; her income is only $603 per month. Dawn struggled to pay her bills and was getting food stamps through a DSHS program called WASHCAP.  One day, Dawn received notice that DSHS was reducing her food stamps. “What I didn’t know was that I could get more food stamps if I wasn’t in WASHCAP and the letter didn’t tell me that. It wasn’t until after I talked with Columbia Legal Services that I understood what had happened.” Columbia Legal Services filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Dawn and another person in her same situation, Eric. Dawn and Eric were representative plaintiffs on behalf of about 40,000 people who also participated in WASHCAP. The lawsuit was successful and resulted in payment of back benefits and the ability for all in the class to decide whether to move to a different food program. Dawn moved to the alternate program and received $39 more per month in food stamps.
From the client:
"Because of the class action lawsuit, I have more to spend on food now. It’s still hard to get by, but because I get more Food Stamps I can buy better food… and I don’t have to skip any meals now… I told my lawyer how grateful I was that there was someone who would help people like me that don’t have much and were going hungry."
Alliance Member: Columbia Legal Services