Lawsuit Alleges State Underpaid Providers Who Serve the Disabled

A class action lawsuit alleges several state departments underpaid providers who serve those with severe physical and intellectual disabilities. The lawsuit was filed  in Fulton County Superior Court on behalf of four disabled Georgians and several service providers who represent others like them.

Attorney Eric Taylor with Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs is representing the providers and the four plaintiffs with disabilities. He says the money is designated to go to approximately 300 service providers who care for thousands with disabilities. Taylor says the issue began at the end of two thousand and eight and believes the state owes providers hundreds of millions of dollars.

“All of the services that were needed were given, but the providers weren’t paid what they were owed and this is not a case of belt tightening. The money was allocated for them. It just wasn’t  paid to them.”

Taylor also says providers and those with disabilities were never notified about the reduced funding.

“It’s so important for the families as these children, who require 24 hour a day care, reach their forties and fifties and the parents are in their seventies and eighties, to know what’s going on and to have confidence their children will be cared for.”

The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and the Georgia Department of Community Health both tell WABE they don’t comment on pending litigation.