South Carolina              
Administrative Law Court
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SC Administrative Law Court Decisions

CAPTION:
Thomas Jones vs South Carolina Department of Social Services

AGENCY:
South Carolina Department of Social Services

PARTIES:
Apellant:
Thomas Jones

Respondent:
South Carolina Department of Social Services
 
DOCKET NUMBER:
08-ALJ-18-0417-AP

APPEARANCES:
 

ORDERS:

BACKGROUND

This is an appeal from a decision of the fair Hearing Committee of the South Carolina Department of Social Services which dismissed Appellant’s request for hearing upon the ground that such requests for hearing in food stamp matters must be made within ninety (90) days from the notice of adverse action.

The record reveals that notice of the adverse decision was sent to Appellant on February 4, 2008, and the request for hearing was not received by Respondent until August 21, 2008, or more than 190 days later.

The amount in controversy here is Three Hundred Ninety One ($391.00) Dollars resulting from an overpayment in food stamps to Appellant

                                                DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

27 S.C. Code Regs §114-180 (C)(1)(a), Family Independence and Food Stamps, Procedure,  provides:

Requests for hearing must be filed with the caseworker or the OAH within sixty (60) days of notice of the adverse action for Family Independence and within ninety (90) days of notice of the adverse action for Food Stamps.

 

7 C.F.R. 273.15(g) provides:

Time period for requesting hearing. A household shall be allowed to request a hearing on any action by the State agency or loss of benefits which occurred in the prior 90 days. Action by the State agency shall include a denial of a request for restoration of any benefits lost more than 90 days but less than a year prior to the request. In addition, at any time within a certification period a household may request a fair hearing to dispute its current level of benefits.

 

            Thus, the record is clear that appellant failed to timely file his request for hearing, i.e., within ninety (90) days of notice of the action adverse to him and that the dismissal by Respondent was proper.[1]

THEREFORE, the Order appealed from is AFFIRMED and this appeal dismissed with prejudice.

AND IT IS SO ORDERED.

 

 

May 19, 2009

Columbia, SC

_________________________________

John D. McLeod, Judge

S.C. Administrative Law Court

 



[1] Appellant has appeared without counsel. Often, when laymen attempt to represent themselves, they misunderstand the basis for a ruling adverse to them and interpret it as a personal punishment by the Court. Appellant in this case should understand that there are good reasons for rules that impose time limits for certain actions to be taken, for instance, to allow testimony to be fresh rather than stale and to allow files to be closed and records stored, and a myriad of other practical reasons.


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