Court Opinion

ID: 9428340
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:23:29.071565+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:12.972348
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
with whom Justice Brennan, Justice White, and Justice Marshall join,
concurring in the judgment.
For the reasons stated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Caldwell v. Blum, 621 F. 2d 491 (1980), cert. pending, No. 79-2034,1 the application of California’s “transfer-of-assets” rule to the medically needy class members prior to the effective date of the Boren-Long Amendment, Pub. L. 96-611, 94 Stat. 3567, is prohibited by existing federal law. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in this case must therefore be set aside. On remand, the Court of Appeals should, of course, consider the impact of the statutory change on the class members’ future rights, but it also should determine what relief is appropriate to remedy the past violations.2 Cf. Quern v. Jordan, 440 U. S. 332.
Accordingly, I concur in the Court’s decision to vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals and to remand this case for further proceedings. •

 See also Fabula v. Buck, 598 F. 2d 869 (CA4 1979); Robinson v. Pratt, 497 F. Supp. 116 (Mass. 1980), appeal dism’d, vacated and remanded, 645 F. 2d 89 (CA1 1981); Scarpuzza v. Blum, 73 App. Div. 2d 237, 426 N. Y. S. 2d 505 (1980). Cf. Blum v. Caldwell, 446 U. S. 1311 (Marshall, J., in chambers).

 In addition to declaratory and injunctive relief, the plaintiffs seek “reimbursement for those amounts which they had been forced to pay because of the state’s transfer rule.” Dawson v. Myers, 622 F. 2d 1304, 1309 (CA9 1980). The Boren-Long Amendment clearly does not control this claim for reimbursement for sums paid by the plaintiffs in the past.