I-4-1-12.Receipt of New Civil Action – Court Case Preparation and Review Branch Responsibilities
Last Update: 6/26/23 (Transmittal I-4-92)
A. General
When a claimant files a new court case, the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) will usually notify the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO) via direct email to the processing Court Case Preparation and Review Branch (CCPRB). The CCPRB that handles the jurisdiction where the claimant filed the complaint will handle the new court case. CCPRBs regularly monitor notifications and alerts such as upcoming due dates from OGC and use that information to timely process all appropriate actions and to provide status updates to OGC.
B. Civil Action Involving Paper Claim(s) Files
When notified of a new civil action involving a paper claim(s) file, the court legal assistant will determine the claim(s) file location and request the claim(s) file as soon as possible (but no later than seven business days) after receipt of the notification of the civil action.
1. Claim(s) File at the Social Security Administration's National Records Center
If a claim(s) file is located in the Social Security Administration's National Records Center (SSANRC), the court legal assistant will notify the CCPRB supervisory legal assistant (SLA) or branch chief, who will submit a request for the claim(s) file to the designated SSANRC mailbox.
If the SLA or branch chief does not receive a tracking number for the claim(s) file following the request, the SLA or branch chief will send a follow-up email.
2. Claim(s) File in an Office of Appellate Operations Branch
If a paper claim(s) file is located in another OAO branch, the court legal assistant will notify the SLA, who will request the claim(s) file by contacting the branch chief of the OAO branch that is holding the file.
If the SLA does not receive the claim(s) file, the SLA will ask the CCPRB branch chief for assistance.
3. Claim(s) File Not in the Social Security Administration's National Records Center or an Office of Appellate Operations Branch
When a paper claim(s) file cannot be located at the SSANRC or OAO, the SLA or branch chief will search for the claim(s) file using the procedures in Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual I-3-1-23 C and complete the Claim(s) File and Hearing Recording Search Checklist located in HALLEX I-3-1-26.
4. If Claim(s) File Cannot be Located
If the court legal assistant is unable to locate the claim(s) file and the claim(s) information is not otherwise available, the court legal assistant will assign the case to a CCPRB analyst for review of the case using the procedures in HALLEX I-4-1-15 C.
C. Answer Procedures
1. Establish Whether Filing is Timely
After a court level case is established in the Appeals Review Processing System (ARPS) and the court legal assistant has obtained the claim(s) file, the court legal assistant will verify that the complaint was timely filed using the instructions in HALLEX I-4-1-2.
If the claimant did not timely file the complaint, the court legal assistant will assign the case to a CCPRB analyst to prepare a declaration, as noted in HALLEX I-4-3-5.
2. Request Transcript (if Applicable)
If a hearing(s) was held, the court legal assistant will request a transcript of the hearing(s) using the procedures in HALLEX I-4-1-14.
NOTE:
If the claim(s) file is paper and the hearing recording(s) is not with the claim(s) file, the court legal assistant will attempt to find the hearing recording(s) using the procedures described in HALLEX I-3-1-12 B. If a hearing recording is certified as lost, the court legal assistant will assign the case to a CCPRB analyst for review of the case using the procedures in HALLEX I-4-1-15 B.